Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Ontario is reporting 1,829 new cases today, with the seven-day average of daily cases increasing by 52 to 1,532. The province is also reporting 55 more confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 5 new cases to report and an additional 15 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 10 to 100.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (593), Peel (287), York (157), Hamilton (124), and Ottawa (101).
There are double-digit increases in Durham (77), Simcoe Muskoka (50), Sudbury (43), Niagara (42), Lambton (41), Halton (40), Thunder Bay (32), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (32), Windsor-Essex (29), Eastern Ontario (27), Middlesex-London (24), Chatham-Kent (23), Waterloo (18), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (12), Northwestern (11), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (11), and Peterborough (10), with smaller increases in Southwestern (9), Brant (9), and Haldimand-Norfolk (8).
The remaining 9 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with only 1 health unit reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 59% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (695) among people ages 20-39 followed by 493 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,261 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 93.6%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.3% from yesterday to 3.6%, meaning that 36 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 19.
Ontario is reporting 11 new COVID-19 deaths today, with 1 new death in a long-term care home. Ontario has averaged 12 new daily deaths over the past week (no change from yesterday).
Hospitalizations have increased by 6 from yesterday to 765, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs decreasing by 7 to 302, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators increasing by 13 to 189.
With 56,134 tests completed yesterday, Ontario has now administered more than 12 million tests since the pandemic began. The backlog of tests under investigation has decreased by 1,525 to 28,020.
A total of 1,480,882 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 60,283 from yesterday, with 297,134 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 2,385 from yesterday, representing 2.02% of Ontario’s population.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 5 new cases to report, including 3 in Peterborough, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward. There are no new cases in Kawartha Lakes or Haliburton.
There are 4 new regional cases of presumed variants of concern, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton.
An additional 15 cases have been resolved, including 8 in Northumberland, 3 in Peterborough, 2 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Haliburton, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward.
There are currently 100 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 10 from yesterday, including 61 in Peterborough, 12 in Kawartha Lakes, 10 in Northumberland, 9 in Haliburton, and 8 in Hastings Prince Edward (3 in Quinte West, 2 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 810 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (739 resolved with 10 deaths), 567 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (513 resolved with 55 deaths), 475 in Northumberland County (453 resolved with 12 deaths), 62 in Haliburton County (52 resolved with 1 death), and 443 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: 810 (increase of 1)*
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 144 (no change)
Active cases: 61 (decrease of 2)
Close contacts: 218 (increase of 80)
Deaths: 10 (no change)
Resolved: 739 (increase of 3)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 27 (no change)**
Total tests completed: Over 45,500 (increase of 50)
Outbreaks: Severn Court Student Residence, Trent Champlain College residence, unidentified congregate living facility in Peterborough, Gzowski College student residence at Trent University (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 13,911 (increase of 3,591 as of March 18)
*The health unit is reporting 3 new cases in the last 24 hours. However, 2 cases have been removed from previous days, resulting in a net increase of 1 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).
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: 1,104, including 567 in Kawartha Lakes, 475 in Northumberland, and 62 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Northumberland)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 38, including 7 in Kawartha Lakes, 30 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (increase of 4, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)**
Active cases: 31, including 12 in Kawartha Lakes, 10 in Northumberland, and 9 in Haliburton (decrease of 9, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 7 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
High-risk contacts: 283, including 67 in Kawartha Lakes, 144 in Northumberland, and 67 in Haliburton (net decrease of 72)***
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: 1,018, including 513 in Kawartha Lakes, 453 in Northumberland, 52 in Haliburton (increase of 11, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes, 8 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 157,017 (increase of 626)
Vaccine doses administered: 10,989 (no change)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 2,258 (no change)
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 33 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: 443 (increase of 1)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 8 (no change)
Active cases: 8 (increase of 1)
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 (no change)
Tests completed: 75,726 (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 19,812 (increase of 1,957)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 1,893 (increase of 23)
Outbreaks: None (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 327,083 (increase of 1,829)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,230 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 55); 47 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (decrease of 1); 35 of P.1 Brazilian variant (no change)
VOC R(t): 1.33 (decrease of 0.01 as of March 16)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,532 (increase of 52)
Resolved: 306,050 (increase of 1,261), 93.6% of all cases (decrease of 0.1%)
Positivity rate: 3.6% (increase of 0.3%)
Hospitalizations: 765 (increase of 6)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 302 (decrease of 7)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 189 (increase of 13)
Deaths: 7,223 (increase of 11)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 12 (no change)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,889 (increase of 1)
Total tests completed: 12,033,515 (increase of 52,083)
Tests under investigation: 28,020 (decrease of 1,525)
Vaccination doses administered: 1,480,882 (increase of 60,283)
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 297,134 (increase of 2,385), 2.02% 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.
