Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Ontario is reporting 1,791 new cases today, with the seven-day average of daily cases increasing by 6 to 1,538. The province is also reporting 57 more confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant and 1 new case of the P.1 Brazilian variant.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 3 new cases to report and an additional 10 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 7 to 93. These numbers do not include Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton as that health unit does not issue updates on Sundays.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (495), Peel (350), York (177), and Durham (106).
There are double-digit increases in Ottawa (90), Hamilton (89), Halton (52), Niagara (42), Simcoe Muskoka (40), Middlesex-London (37), Windsor-Essex (36), Sudbury (31), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (31), Lambton (30), Thunder Bay (27), Waterloo (25), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (21), Eastern Ontario (18), Chatham-Kent (14), Southwestern (14), Brant (14), and Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (12), with smaller increases in Peterborough (9), North Bay Parry Sound (8), and Northwestern (7).
The remaining 8 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 (617) among people ages 20-39 followed by 511 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,353 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 93.5%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.1% from yesterday to 3.7%, meaning that 37 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 20.
Ontario is reporting 18 new COVID-19 deaths today, with 2 new deaths in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 13 new daily deaths over the past week, an increase of 1 from yesterday.
Hospitalizations have decreased by 5 from yesterday to 760, but more than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for today’s report, so the actual number of hospitalization may be higher. The number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs increased by 3 to 305, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators has decreased by 3 to 186.
A total of 49,233 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 8,534 to 19,486.
A total of 1,521,705 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 40,823 from yesterday, with 298,549 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,415 from yesterday, representing 2.03% of Ontario’s population.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 3 new cases to report in Peterborough. There are no new cases in Hastings Prince Edward. Updated numbers for Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton are not available as that health unit does not issue reports on Sundays.
There are 12 new cases of presumed variants of concern and 1 new hospitalization in Peterborough.
An additional 10 cases have been resolved, including 8 in Peterborough and 2 in Hastings Prince Edward.
There are currently 93 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 7 from yesterday, including 56 in Peterborough, 12 in Kawartha Lakes, 10 in Northumberland, 9 in Haliburton, and 6 in Hastings Prince Edward (1 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 813 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (747 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 (431 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: 813 (increase of 3)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 156 (increase of 12)
Active cases: 56 (decrease of 5)
Close contacts: 211 (decrease of 7)
Deaths: 10 (no change)
Resolved: 747 (increase of 8)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 28 (increase of 1)*
Total tests completed: Over 45,600 (increase of 100)
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 (last updated on March 18)
*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. These numbers are from March 20.
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 (no change)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 8 (no change)
Active cases: 6 (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: 431 (increase of 2)
Tests completed: 78,866 (increase of 3,140)
Vaccine doses administered: 19,958 (increase of 146)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 1,893 (no change)
Outbreaks: None (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 328,874 (increase of 1,791)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,287 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 57); 47 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (no change); 36 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 1)
VOC R(t): 1.33 (last updated March 16)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,538 (increase of 6)
Resolved: 307,403 (increase of 1,353), 93.5% of all cases (decrease of 0.1%)
Positivity rate: 3.7% (increase of 0.1%)
Hospitalizations: 760 (decrease of 5)**
Hospitalizations in ICU: 305 (increase of 3)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 186 (decrease of 3)
Deaths: 7,241 (increase of 18)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 13 (increase of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,891 (increase of 2)
Total tests completed: 12,082,748 (increase of 49,233)
Tests under investigation: 19,486 (decrease of 8,534)
Vaccination doses administered: 1,521,705 (increase of 40,823)
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 298,549 (increase of 1,415), 2.03% 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.
**More than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for this report, so the actual number of hospitalization may be higher.
For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.
