Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Ontario is reporting 1,699 new cases today, with the seven-day average of daily cases increasing by 22 to 1,600. The province is also reporting 53 more confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant and 1 new case of the B.1.351 South Africa variant.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 12 new cases to report and an additional 14 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 2 to 91. See below for detailed numbers from each regional health unit.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (500), Peel (318), York (155), and Hamilton (114).
There are double-digit increases in Ottawa (85), Durham (79), Simcoe Muskoka (64), Halton (57), Lambton (42), Eastern Ontario (39), Sudbury (34), Waterloo (31), Niagara (24), Thunder Bay (16), Windsor-Essex (16), Brant (15), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (14), Northwestern (13), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (13), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (12), Middlesex-London (11), Southwestern (11), and Chatham-Kent (10), with smaller increases in Grey Bruce (8) and Haldimand-Norfolk (6).
The remaining 9 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 2 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 55% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (604) among people ages 20-39 followed by 493 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,175 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.2% to 93.3%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 1.7% from yesterday to 5.4%, meaning that 54 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 21.
Ontario is reporting only 3 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 53 from yesterday to 813, 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 decreased by 7 to 298, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators remains the same at 186.
A total of 31,089 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 5,079 to 14,407.
A total of 1,553,040 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 31,335 from yesterday, with 299,297 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 748 from yesterday. The number of fully vaccinated people represents 2.03% of Ontario’s population (no change from yesterday).
There are 140 new cases in Ontario schools, an increase of 8 from March 19, including 120 student cases, 19 staff cases, and 1 case of an unidentified person. There are 29 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, a decrease of 16 from March 19, with 17 cases among children and 12 cases among staff.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 12 new cases to report, including 4 in Peterborough, 4 in Haliburton, 3 in Northumberland, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward. There are no new cases in Kawartha Lakes.
There are 8 new regional cases of presumed variants of concern, including 5 in Peterborough, 2 in Northumberland, and 1 in Kawartha Lakes.
An outbreak at Empress Gardens retirement home in Peterborough was declared on March 22.
There is 1 new hospitalization in Peterborough.
An additional 14 cases have been resolved, including 5 in Peterborough, 3 in Kawartha Lakes, 3 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton.
There are currently 91 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 2 from yesterday, including 55 in Peterborough, 10 in Northumberland, 10 in Haliburton, 9 in Kawartha Lakes, and 7 in Hastings Prince Edward (1 in Quinte West, 3 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 817 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (752 resolved with 10 deaths), 567 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (516 resolved with 55 deaths), 478 in Northumberland County (456 resolved with 12 deaths), 66 in Haliburton County (55 resolved with 1 death), and 444 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: 817 (increase of 4)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 161 (increase of 5)
Active cases: 55 (decrease of 1)
Close contacts: 200 (decrease of 11)
Deaths: 10 (no change)
Resolved: 752 (increase of 5)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 29 (increase of 1)*
Total tests completed: Over 45,650 (increase of 50)
Outbreaks: Severn Court Student Residence in Peterborough, Champlain College residence at Trent University in Peterborough, unidentified congregate living facility in Peterborough, Gzowski College student residence at Trent University, Empress Gardens retirement home in Peterborough (increase of 1)**
Vaccine doses administered: 13,911 (last updated on March 18)
*As of March 22, 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 (no change).
**An outbreak at Empress Gardens retirement home in Peterborough was declared on March 22.
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 21 and 22.
Confirmed positive: 1,111, including 567 in Kawartha Lakes, 478 in Northumberland, and 66 in Haliburton (increase of 7, including 4 in Haliburton and 3 in Northumberland)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 41, including 8 in Kawartha Lakes, 32 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (increase of 3, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland)**
Active cases: 29, including 9 in Kawartha Lakes, 10 in Northumberland, and 10 in Haliburton (net decrease of 2)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
High-risk contacts: 249, including 34 in Kawartha Lakes, 123 in Northumberland, and 69 in Haliburton (net decrease of 34)***
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: 1,027, including 516 in Kawartha Lakes, 456 in Northumberland, 55 in Haliburton (increase of 9, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes, 3 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 157,451 (increase of 434)
Vaccine doses administered: 15,788 (increase of 4,799)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 2,283 (increase of 25)
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 23 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of March 22, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 2 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (increase of 1).
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: 444 (increase of 1)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 8 (no change)
Active cases: 7 (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: 431 (no change)
Tests completed: 78,866 (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 20,022 (increase of 64)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 1,893 (no change)
Outbreaks: None (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 330,573 (increase of 1,699)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,340 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 53); 48 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 1); 36 of P.1 Brazilian variant (no change)
VOC R(t): 1.25 (decrease of 0.08 as of March 18)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,600 (increase of 22)
Resolved: 308,578 (increase of 1,175), 93.3% of all cases (decrease of 0.2%)
Positivity rate: 5.4% (increase of 1.7%)
Hospitalizations: 813 (increase of 53)**
Hospitalizations in ICU: 298 (decrease of 7)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 186 (no change)
Deaths: 7,244 (increase of 3)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 12 (decrease of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,891 (no change)
Total tests completed: 12,113,837 (increase of 31,089)
Tests under investigation: 14,407 (decrease of 5,079)
Vaccination doses administered: 1,553,040 (increase of 31,335)
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 299,297 (increase of 748), 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.
