Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 2,380 new cases, although the province says 280 of these are previous cases added as a result of a technical issue that affected the flow of laboratory reports into the provincial case and contact management system.
However, even without these previous cases, today’s total is 2,100 — the highest daily increase since January 23 when 2,417 cases were reported. The seven-day average of daily cases has increased by 118 to 1,794.
The province is also reporting 69 more confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, 1 more case of the of B.1.351 South Africa variant, and 7 more cases of the P.1 Brazilian variant.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 21 new cases to report and an additional 8 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region increasing by 12 to 100. See below for detailed numbers from each regional health unit.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (with a record number of 1,016), Peel (294), York (244), and Ottawa (152).
There are double-digit increases in Durham (90), Hamilton (79), Halton (53), Waterloo (50), Simcoe Muskoka (48), Eastern Ontario (46), Niagara (45), Lambton (40), Thunder Bay (34), Sudbury (29), Middlesex-London (25), Windsor-Essex (24), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (17), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (17), and Haldimand-Norfolk (13), with smaller increases in Southwestern (8), Chatham-Kent (7), Kingston, and Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (6).
The remaining 12 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with only 1 health unit (Porcupine) reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 56% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (834) among people ages 20-39 followed by 719 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,329 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.3% to 93.0%. The average positivity rate across Ontario remains unchanged at 3.8%, meaning that 38 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 24.
Ontario is reporting 17 new COVID-19 deaths today, with no new deaths in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 11 new daily deaths over the past week (no change from yesterday).
The number of hospitalizations has increased by 1 from yesterday to 894, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs decreasing by 1 to 332 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators increasing by 2 to 212.
A total of 60,077 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 2,069 to 36,916.
A total of 1,755,596 doses of vaccine have now been administered, a record increase of 79,446 from yesterday, with 304,386 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,722 from yesterday. The number of fully vaccinated people represents 2.07% of Ontario’s population, an increase of 0.02% from yesterday.
There are 174 new cases in Ontario schools, a decrease of 83 from yesterday, including 135 student cases and 39 staff cases. There are 47 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, a decrease of 24 from yesterday, including 30 cases among children and 17 cases among staff.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 21 new cases to report, including 10 in Peterborough, 5 in Kawartha Lakes, 4 in Hastings Prince Edward, and 2 in Northumberland. There are no new cases in Haliburton.
There are 2 more regional cases of presumed variants of concern, in Peterborough. There is 1 new hospitalization, also in Peterborough.
An additional 8 cases have been resolved, including 5 in Peterborough, 2 in Northumberland, and 1 in Kawartha Lakes. An outbreak at St. Michael Catholic Elementary School in Cobourg has been resolved.
There are currently 100 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 12 from yesterday, including 60 in Peterborough, 11 in Kawartha Lakes, 11 in Hastings Prince Edward (1 in Quinte West, 3 in Belleville, 1 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 3 in Prince Edward County, 2 in Central Hastings, and 1 in North Hastings), 10 in Northumberland, and 8 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 838 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (768 resolved with 10 deaths), 572 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (519 resolved with 55 deaths), 481 in Northumberland County (459 resolved with 12 deaths), 66 in Haliburton County (57 resolved with 1 death), and 448 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 4 p.m. the previous day, as well as from systems in Toronto, Ottawa, and Middlesex-London at 2 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: 838 (increase of 10)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 167 (increase of 2)
Active cases: 60 (increase of 5)
Close contacts: 200 (no change)
Deaths: 10 (no change)
Resolved: 768 (increase of 5)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 30 (increase of 1)*
Total tests completed: Over 45,800 (increase of 150)
Outbreaks: Unidentified congregate living facility in Peterborough, Gzowski College student residence at Trent University, Empress Gardens retirement home in Peterborough (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 24,309 (increase of 10,398 since March 18)
*As of March 25, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 10 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (previously was fewer than 5) 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: 1,119, including 572 in Kawartha Lakes, 481 in Northumberland, and 66 in Haliburton (increase of 7, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 44, including 8 in Kawartha Lakes, 36 in Northumberland (decrease of 1 in Haliburton)**
Active cases: 29, including 11 in Kawartha Lakes, 10 in Northumberland, and 8 in Haliburton (net increase of 3)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
High-risk contacts: 180, including 35 in Kawartha Lakes, 75 in Northumberland, and 55 in Haliburton (net decrease of 5)***
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: 1,035, including 519 in Kawartha Lakes, 459 in Northumberland, 57 in Haliburton (increase of 3, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland)
Tests completed: 159,715 (increase of 1,474)
Vaccine doses administered: 15,788 (no change, last updated on March 22)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 2,283 (no change, last updated on March 22)
Outbreaks: Hyland Crest long-term care home in Minden (decrease of 1)*****
*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 15 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of March 25, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 1 patient hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change)).
*****An outbreak at St. Michael Catholic Elementary School in Cobourg has been resolved.
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: 448 (increase of 4)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 9 (no change)
Active cases: 11 (increase of 4)
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: 79,220 (increase of 10)
Vaccine doses administered: 23,093 (increase of 944)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 1,897 (increase of 1)
Outbreaks: None (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 336,070 (increase of 2,380)*
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,458 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 69); 51 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 1); 54 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 7)
VOC R(t): 1.28 (decrease of 0.02 as of March 21)**
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,794 (increase of 118)
Resolved: 312,709 (increase of 1,329), 93.0% of all cases (decrease of 0.3%)
Positivity rate: 3.8% (no change)
Hospitalizations: 894 (increase of 1)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 332 (decrease of 1)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 212 (increase of 2)
Deaths: 7,280 (increase of 17)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 11 (no change)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,892 (no change)
Total tests completed: 12,258,432 (increase of 60,077)
Tests under investigation: 36,916 (decrease of 2,069)
Vaccination doses administered: 1,755,596 (increase of 79,446)
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 304,386 (increase of 1,722), 2.07% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.02%, est. 70-90% required for herd immunity)
*Today’s total count includes approximately 280 previous cases added as a result of a technical issue affecting the flow of laboratory reports into the provincial case and contact management system. Without these previous cases, today’s count is 2,100.
**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.
