Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today’s update brings both good and bad news. The good news is that the rate of vaccinations is increasing, with Ontario administering its most-ever doses yesterday at 61,146. Two per cent of Ontario’s population has now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — although we still have a long way to go before reaching herd immunity, which requires an estimated minimum of 70% of the population to be immmunized.
The bad news is that Ontario, now officially in the third wave of the pandemic, is reporting 1,745 new cases today. This is the highest daily increase since January 31 when 1,969 cases were reported, and drives the seven-day average of daily cases up by 53 to 1,480.
The province is reporting 39 more confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, for a total of 1,175, and 1 more case of the B.1.351 South Africa variant, for a total of 48. However, presumed variants of concern now make up around half of all new cases.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 20 new cases to report and an additional 15 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region increasing by 9 to 110. An outbreak at Gzowski College student residence at Trent University was declared on March 19. See below for details for each health unit in the region.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (478), Peel (344), York (174), and Hamilton (116).
There are double-digit increases in Durham (96), Ottawa (73), Halton (53), Thunder Bay (52), Waterloo (35), Simcoe Muskoka (34), Sudbury (30), Lambton (29), Windsor-Essex (27), Middlesex-London (26), Niagara (25), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (25), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (22), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (16), Northwestern (15), Chatham-Kent (14), Southwestern (12), and Eastern Ontario (11), with smaller increases in Haldimand-Norfolk (9), Brant (7), and Peterborough (6).
The remaining 9 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 3 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 56% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (625) among people ages 20-39 followed by 490 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,296 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 93.7%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.2% from yesterday to 3.3%, meaning that 33 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 18.
Ontario is reporting 10 new COVID-19 deaths today, with no new deaths in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 12 new daily deaths over the past week, a decrease of 1 from yesterday.
Hospitalizations have increased by 29 from yesterday to 759, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs increasing by 5 to 309, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators decreasing by 10 to 176.
A total of 56,134 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 2,785 to 29,545.
A total of 1,420,599 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 61,146 from yesterday, with 294,749 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 2,480 from yesterday, representing 2% of Ontario’s population.
There are 132 new cases in Ontario schools, an increase of 13 from yesterday, including 106 student cases and 26 staff cases. There are 45 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, an increase of 23 from yesterday, with 23 cases among children and 22 cases among staff.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 20 new cases to report, including 15 in Peterborough, 2 in Northumberland, 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Haliburton, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward.
An outbreak at Gzowski College student residence at Trent University was declared on March 19. Details on the outbreak are not yet available.
There are 9 new regional cases of presumed variants of concern, including 8 in Peterborough and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward.
An additional 15 cases have been resolved, including 9 in Peterborough, 3 in Hastings Prince Edward, 2 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Haliburton.
There are currently 110 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 9 from yesterday, including 63 in Peterborough, 17 in Northumberland, 13 in Kawartha Lakes, 10 in Haliburton, and 7 in Hastings Prince Edward (3 in Quinte West, 1 in Belleville, 1 in Prince Edward County, 1 in Central Hastings, and 1 in North Hastings).
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 809 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (736 resolved with 10 deaths), 566 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (511 resolved with 55 deaths), 474 in Northumberland County (445 resolved with 12 deaths), 62 in Haliburton County (51 resolved with 1 death), and 442 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (429 resolved with 6 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Peterborough on March 16.
The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 12 p.m. the previous day. Data from local health units is more current and is usually reflected in the provincial data the following day. There may be discrepancies between the Ontario data reported today (which is from yesterday) and the local health unit data reported today (which is from today).
Peterborough Public Health
Peterborough Public Health’s service area is the City and County of Peterborough and the Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations.
The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 809 (increase of 16)*
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 144 (increase of 8)
Active cases: 63 (increase of 7)
Close contacts: 138 (decrease of 5)
Deaths: 10 (no change)
Resolved: 736 (increase of 9)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 27 (no change)**
Total tests completed: Over 45,450 (increase of 150)
Outbreaks: Severn Court Student Residence, Trent Champlain College residence, unidentified congregate living facility in Peterborough, Gzowski College student residence at Trent University (increase of 1)*
Vaccine doses administered: 13,911 (increase of 3,591 as of March 18)
*The health unit reports 15 new cases in the last 24 hours, with 1 case from a previous day added to the total case count.
**As of March 19, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change) and 20 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (increase of 1).
***An outbreak at Gzowski College student residence at Trent University was declared on March 19.
Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit
The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit’s service area is the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Haliburton County.
The health unit provides reports from Monday to Saturday, excluding Sundays and statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 1,102, including 566 in Kawartha Lakes, 474 in Northumberland, and 62 in Haliburton (increase of 4, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 2 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 34, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes and 29 in Northumberland (no change)**
Active cases: 40, including 13 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 10 in Haliburton (increase of 4, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 2 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
High-risk contacts: 355, including 64 in Kawartha Lakes, 192 in Northumberland, and 64 in Haliburton (net decrease of 12)***
Hospitalizations (total to date): 49, including 29 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (no change)****
Deaths (including among probable cases): 68, including 55 in Kawartha Lakes, 12 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change)
Resolved: 1,007, including 511 in Kawartha Lakes, 445 in Northumberland, 51 in Haliburton (increase of 3, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 156,391 (increase of 706)
Vaccine doses administered: 10,989
Number of people fully vaccinated: 2,258
Outbreaks: Hyland Crest long-term care home in Minden, St. Michael Catholic Elementary School in Cobourg (no change)
*The health unit states that total counts and counts for individual counties may fluctuate from previously reported counts as cases are transferred to or from the health unit based on case investigation details and routine data cleaning.
**The N501Y mutation has been identified in variants of concern including the B.1.1.7 UK variant, the B.1.351 South Africa variant, and the P.1 Brazilian variant.
***This total includes an additional 35 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of March 19, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 1 patient hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change).
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s service area is Hastings County (including Bancroft) and Prince Edward County.
The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 442 (increase of 1)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 8 (increase of 1)
Active cases: 7 (decrease of 2)
Deaths: 6 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 0 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change)
Resolved: 429 (increase of 3)
Tests completed: 75,726 (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 17,855 (increase of 2,950)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 1,870 (increase of 525)
Outbreaks: None (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 325,254 (increase of 1,745)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,175 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 39); 48 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 1); 35 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 1)
VOC R(t): 1.34 (no change as of March 15)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,480 (increase of 53)
Resolved: 304,789 (increase of 1,296), 93.7% of all cases (decrease of 0.1%)
Positivity rate: 3.3% (increase of 0.2%)
Hospitalizations: 759 (increase of 29)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 309 (increase of 5)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 176 (decrease of 10)
Deaths: 7,212 (increase of 10)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 12 (decrease of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,888 (no change)
Total tests completed: 11,981,432 (increase of 56,134)
Tests under investigation: 29,545 (decrease of 2,785)
Vaccination doses administered: 1,420,599 (increase of 61,146)
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 294,749 (increase of 2,480), 2.0% of Ontario’s population (est. 70-90% required for herd immunity)
*R(t) is a virus’s effective reproduction number, which is the average number of new infections caused by a single infected individual at a specific time (t) in a partially immunized population. To successfully eliminate a disease from a population, R(t) needs to be less than 1.
For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.
