Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Ontario is reporting 1,546 new cases today, with the seven-day average of daily cases increasing by 67 to 1,667. The province is also reporting 19 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 5 new cases to report and an additional 9 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 4 to 87. See below for detailed numbers from each regional health unit.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (465), Peel (329), and York (161).
There are double-digit increases in Durham (99), Halton (64), Ottawa (58), Hamilton (57), Niagara (39), Simcoe Muskoka (38), Waterloo (31), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (23), Middlesex-London (22), Windsor-Essex (21), Lambton (20), Sudbury (15), Eastern Ontario (15), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (13), Haldimand-Norfolk (13), Chatham-Kent (12), Southwestern (12), and Thunder Bay (10), with smaller increases in Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (9) and Grey Bruce (8).
The remaining 11 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 (537) among people ages 20-39 followed by 464 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,271 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases is unchanged at 93.3%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.3% from yesterday to 5.7%, meaning that 57 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 22.
Ontario is reporting 9 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 1 new death in a long-term care home. Ontario has averaged 11 new daily deaths over the past week, a decrease of 1 from yesterday.
Hospitalizations have increased by 55 from yesterday to 868, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs increasing by 26 to 324 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators increasing by 7 to 193.
A total of 32,556 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation increasing by 16,918 to 31,325.
A total of 1,603,699 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 50,659 from yesterday, with 301,043 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,746 from yesterday. The number of fully vaccinated people represents 2.04% of Ontario’s population, an increase of 0.01%.
There are 409 new cases in Ontario schools, an increase of 269 from yesterday, including 333 student cases, 75 staff cases, and 1 case of an unidentified person. There are 93 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, an increase of 64 from yesterday, including 59 cases among children and 34 cases among staff. Note: cases reported on Tuesdays include the total number of cases reported from Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 5 new cases to report, including 4 in Peterborough and 1 in Northumberland. There are no new cases in Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton, or Hastings Prince Edward.
There are 7 new regional cases of presumed variants of concern, including 5 in Peterborough and 2 in Northumberland.
An additional 9 cases have been resolved, including 5 in Peterborough, 3 in Haliburton, and 1 in Northumberland.
There are currently 87 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 4 from yesterday, including 55 in Peterborough, 10 in Northumberland, 9 in Kawartha Lakes, 7 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 822 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (757 resolved with 10 deaths), 567 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (516 resolved with 55 deaths), 479 in Northumberland County (457 resolved with 12 deaths), 66 in Haliburton County (58 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: 822 (increase of 5)*
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 166 (increase of 5)
Active cases: 55 (no change)
Close contacts: 208 (increase of 8)
Deaths: 10 (no change)
Resolved: 757 (increase of 5)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 29 (no change)**
Total tests completed: Over 45,650 (no change)
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 (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 13,911 (last updated on March 18)
*The health unit has reported 4 new cases in the last 24 hours, but the total case count has increased by 5.
**As of March 23, 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).
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: 1,113, including 567 in Kawartha Lakes, 479 in Northumberland, and 66 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Northumberland)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 43, including 8 in Kawartha Lakes, 34 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (increase of 2 in Northumberland)**
Active cases: 26, including 9 in Kawartha Lakes, 10 in Northumberland, and 7 in Haliburton (decrease of 3 in Haliburton)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
High-risk contacts: 189, including 32 in Kawartha Lakes, 84 in Northumberland, and 55 in Haliburton (decrease of 60)***
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: 1,031, including 516 in Kawartha Lakes, 457 in Northumberland, 58 in Haliburton (increase of 4, including 1 in Northumberland and 3 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 158,241 (increase of 790)
Vaccine doses administered: 15,788 (no change)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 2,283 (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 18 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of March 23, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 1 patient hospitalized with COVID-19 (decrease 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: 443 (decrease of 1)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 8 (no change)
Active cases: 6 (decrease 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: 79,199 (increase of 333)
Vaccine doses administered: 20,818 (increase of 796)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 1,895 (increase of 2)
Outbreaks: None (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 332,119 (increase of 1,546)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,359 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 19); 47 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (decrease of 1); 37 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 1)
VOC R(t): 1.27 (increase of 0.02 as of March 19)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,667 (increase of 67)
Resolved: 309,849 (increase of 1,271), 93.3% of all cases (no change)
Positivity rate: 5.7% (increase of 0.3%)
Hospitalizations: 868 (increase of 55)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 324 (increase of 26)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 193 (increase of 7)
Deaths: 7,253 (increase of 9)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 11 (decrease of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,892 (increase of 1)
Total tests completed: 12,146,393 (increase of 32,556)
Tests under investigation: 31,325 (increase of 16,918)
Vaccination doses administered: 1,603,699 (increase of 50,659)
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 301,043 (increase of 1,746), 2.04% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.01%, 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.
