Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 2,169 new cases, with 6 public health units experiencing triple-digit increases. The seven-day average of daily cases has increased by 61 to 1,855.
Yesterday, the provincial government announced Timiskaming is moving to the Red-Control level effective today. Today, the government announced Hamilton is moving to Grey-Lockdown and Eastern Ontario is moving to Red-Control effective March 29. The government also announced it is modifying its “emergency brake” option so that, when activated in a region, the previous provincial shutdown measures would apply to that region, including the stay-at-home order.
The province is also reporting 36 more confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, 9 more confirmed cases of the B.1.351 South Africa variant, and 4 more confirmed cases of the P.1 Brazilian variant.
While the number of deaths remains relatively low, with no deaths in long term care homes for the second day in a row, the number of people admitted to hospitals and in ICUs continues to climb to levels not seen since early February.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 13 new cases to report and an additional 22 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing from yesterday by 9 to 91. See below for detailed numbers from each regional health unit.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (682), Peel (397), York (254), Ottawa (129), Durham (123), and Hamilton (122).
There are double-digit increases in Middlesex-London (50), Simcoe Muskoka (48), Waterloo (43), Halton (40), Niagara (37), Sudbury (33), Eastern Ontario (30), Lambton (30), Thunder Bay (17), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (16), Windsor-Essex (16), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (13), Peterborough (11), Grey Bruce (10), and Southwestern (10), with smaller increases in Brant (9), Haldimand-Norfolk (9), Renfrew (8), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (7), and Chatham-Kent (7).
The remaining 8 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 2 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 60% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (814) among people ages 20-39 followed by 548 cases among people ages 40-59 and 476 cases among people 19 and under.
With 1,675 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 92.9%. For the third day in a row, the average positivity rate across Ontario is unchanged at 3.8%, meaning that 38 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 25.
Ontario is reporting 12 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 19 from yesterday to 913, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs increasing by 27 to 359 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators increasing by 3 to 215.
A total of 53,436 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation increasing by 448 to 37,364.
A total of 1,838,592 doses of vaccine have now been administered, a record increase of 82,996 from yesterday, with 306,373 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,987 from yesterday. The number of fully vaccinated people represents 2.08% of Ontario’s population, with fully and partially vaccinated people representing 11.92% of the population; an estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
There are 167 new cases in Ontario schools, a decrease of 7 from yesterday, including 138 student cases and 29 staff cases. There are 50 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, an increase of 3 from yesterday, including 27 cases among children and 13 cases among staff.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 13 new cases to report, including 5 in Hastings Prince Edward, 4 in Peterborough, 2 in Kawartha Lakes, and 2 in Northumberland. There are no new cases in Haliburton.
There are 12 more regional cases of presumed variants of concern, in Peterborough.
An additional 22 cases have been resolved, including 10 in Peterborough, 5 in Haliburton, 3 in Kawartha Lakes, 3 in Northumberland, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward.
There are currently 91 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 9 from yesterday, including 54 in Peterborough, 15 in Hastings Prince Edward (2 in Quinte West, 5 in Belleville, 2 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 3 in Prince Edward County, 2 in Central Hastings, and 1 in North Hastings), 10 in Kawartha Lakes, 9 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 842 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (778 resolved with 10 deaths), 574 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (522 resolved with 55 deaths), 483 in Northumberland County (462 resolved with 12 deaths), 66 in Haliburton County (62 resolved with 1 death), and 453 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (432 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: 842 (increase of 4)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 179 (increase of 12)
Active cases: 54 (decrease of 6)
Close contacts: 257 (increase of 57)
Deaths: 10 (no change)
Resolved: 778 (increase of 10)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 30 (no change)*
Total tests completed: Over 45,850 (increase of 50)
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 26, 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: 1,123, including 574 in Kawartha Lakes, 483 in Northumberland, and 66 in Haliburton (increase of 4, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 44, including 8 in Kawartha Lakes, 36 in Northumberland (no change)**
Active cases: 22, including 10 in Kawartha Lakes, 9 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (decrease of 7, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 5 in Haliburton)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
High-risk contacts: 125, including 38 in Kawartha Lakes, 61 in Northumberland, and 23 in Haliburton (net decrease of 65)***
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: 1,046, including 522 in Kawartha Lakes, 462 in Northumberland, 62 in Haliburton (increase of 11, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes, 3 in Northumberland, and 5 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 160,474 (increase of 759)
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 (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 26, 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: 453 (increase of 5)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 9 (no change)
Active cases: 15 (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: 432 (increase of 1)
Tests completed: 79,222 (increase of 2)
Vaccine doses administered: 23,842 (increase of 749)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 1,901 (increase of 4)
Outbreaks: None (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 338,239 (increase of 2,169)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,494 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 36); 60 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 9); 58 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 4)
VOC R(t): 1.28 (no change as of March 22)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,855 (increase of 61)
Resolved: 314,384 (increase of 1,675), 92.9% of all cases (decrease of 0.1%)
Positivity rate: 3.8% (no change)
Hospitalizations: 913 (increase of 19)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 359 (increase of 27)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 215 (increase of 3)
Deaths: 7,292 (increase of 12)
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: 12,311,868 (increase of 53,436)
Tests under investigation: 37,364 (increase of 448)
Vaccination doses administered: 1,838,592 (increase of 82,996), 11.92% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.56%)**
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 306,373 (increase of 1,987), 2.08% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.01%)**
*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.
**An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.
