Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 2,453 new cases. This is the third straight day of increases over 2,000 and the second day in a row where 6 public health units are experiencing triple-digit increases. The seven-day average of daily cases has increased by 89 to 1,944.
The province is reporting 29 more confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, 3 more confirmed cases of the B.1.351 South Africa variant, and 3 more confirmed cases of the P.1 Brazilian variant.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 17 new cases to report and an additional 6 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region increasing by 10 from yesterday to 101. See below for detailed numbers from each regional health unit.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (814), Peel (411), York (263), Hamilton (156), Durham (139), and Ottawa (115).
There are double-digit increases in Halton (73), Niagara (72), Middlesex-London (63), Windsor-Essex (46), Simcoe Muskoka (43), Lambton (31), Thunder Bay (25), Sudbury (25), Eastern Ontario (23), Waterloo (23), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (18), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (17), Southwestern (12), Northwestern (11), Haldimand-Norfolk (11), and Grey Bruce (10), with smaller increases in Brant (9), Hastings Prince Edward (8), Renfrew (8), and Peterborough (7).
The remaining 8 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with only 1 health unit (Algoma) reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 55% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (888) among people ages 20-39 followed by 692 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,481 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.2% to 92.7%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.7% to 4.5%, meaning that 45 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 26.
Ontario is reporting 16 new COVID-19 deaths today, with 1 new death in a long-term care home. Ontario has averaged 12 new daily deaths over the past week, an increase of 1 from yesterday.
The number of hospitalizations has increased by 72 from yesterday to 985, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs increasing by 6 to 365 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators decreasing by 23 to 192.
A total of 61,005 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 4,299 to 33,065.
A total of 1,916,332 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 77,740 from yesterday, with 308,301 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,928 from yesterday. The number of fully vaccinated people represents 2.09% of Ontario’s population, with fully and partially vaccinated people representing 13.01% of the population; an estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 17 new cases to report, including 9 in Hastings Prince Edward, 3 in Peterborough, 3 in Northumberland, and 2 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no new cases in Haliburton.
There are 7 more regional cases of presumed variants of concern, including 5 in Peterborough, 1 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward.
An additional 6 cases have been resolved, including 3 in Peterborough, 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton. An outbreak at Hyland Crest long-term care home in Minden has been declared resolved.
There are currently 101 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 10 from yesterday, including 54 in Peterborough, 24 in Hastings Prince Edward (2 in Quinte West, 9 in Belleville, 6 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 3 in Prince Edward County, 3 in Central Hastings, and 1 in North Hastings), 11 in Kawartha Lakes, 11 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 845 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (781 resolved with 10 deaths), 576 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (523 resolved with 55 deaths), 486 in Northumberland County (463 resolved with 12 deaths), 65 in Haliburton County (63 resolved with 1 death), and 462 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: 845 (increase of 3)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 184 (increase of 5)
Active cases: 54 (no change)
Close contacts: 257 (no change)
Deaths: 10 (no change)
Resolved: 781 (increase of 3)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 30 (no change)*
Total tests completed: Over 46,000 (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 (last updated March 25)
*As of March 26, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 10 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: 1,127, including 576 in Kawartha Lakes, 486 in Northumberland, and 65 in Haliburton (increase of 5, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Northumberland)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 45, including 9 in Kawartha Lakes, 36 in Northumberland (increase of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)**
Active cases: 23, including 11 in Kawartha Lakes, 11 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (net increase of 1)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
High-risk contacts: 136, including 46 in Kawartha Lakes, 69 in Northumberland, and 19 in Haliburton (net increase of 11)***
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: 1,049, including 523 in Kawartha Lakes, 463 in Northumberland, 63 in Haliburton (increase of 3, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 160,932 (increase of 458)
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: None (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 2 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)).
*****An outbreak at Hyland Crest long-term care home in Minden has been declared 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: 462 (increase of 9)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 10 (increase of 1)
Active cases: 24 (increase of 9)
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 (no change)
Tests completed: 79,222 (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 24,386 (increase of 544)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 1,915 (increase of 14)
Outbreaks: None (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 340,692 (increase of 2,453)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,523 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 29); 63 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 3); 61 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 3)
VOC R(t): 1.31 (increase of 0.03 as of March 23)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,944 (increase of 89)
Resolved: 315,865 (increase of 1,481), 92.7% of all cases (decrease of 0.2%)
Positivity rate: 4.5% (increase of 0.7%)
Hospitalizations: 985 (increase of 72)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 365 (increase of 6)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 192 (decrease of 23)
Deaths: 7,308 (increase of 16)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 12 (increase of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,893 (increase of 1)
Total tests completed: 12,372,873 (increase of 61,005)
Tests under investigation: 33,065 (decrease of 4,299)
Vaccination doses administered: 1,916,332 (increase of 77,740), 13.01% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.53%)**
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 308,301 (increase of 1,928), 2.09% 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.
