Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 2,094 new cases, matching the seven-day average of daily cases which has increased by 56 to 2,094. The province is also reporting 124 more confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant and 15 more confirmed cases of the P.1 Brazilian variant.
The provincial government announced today that Middlesex-London Health Unit is moving to the ‘Red-Control’ level of the province’s COVID-19 response framework effective March 30. With over 2 million vaccine doses now administered, the province also today expanded its vaccination booking system to include people aged 70 and older — but only in 12 public health units, none of which are in the greater Kawarthas region.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 24 new cases to report and an additional 10 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region increasing by 12 from yesterday to 117. See below for detailed numbers from each regional health unit.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (618), Peel (368), York (276), Ottawa (132), and Durham (104).
There are double-digit increases in Halton (74), Middlesex-London (69), Hamilton (61), Simcoe Muskoka (58), Waterloo (52), Windsor-Essex (38), Eastern Ontario (37), Niagara (33), Lambton (23), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (18), Sudbury (17), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (16), Southwestern (15), Brant (13), Chatham-Kent (11), and Haldimand-Norfolk (11), with smaller increases in Grey Bruce (8), Thunder Bay (7), Hastings Prince Edward (7), Peterborough (7), and Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (6).
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, 55% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (731) among people ages 20-39 followed by 600 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,524 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 92.4%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 1.6% from yesterday to 6.1%, meaning that 61 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 28.
Ontario is reporting 10 new COVID-19 deaths today, with no new deaths in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 13 new daily deaths over the past week, an increase of 1 from yesterday.
While the number of hospitalizations has decreased by 76 from yesterday to 841, more than 10% of hospitals do not submit data for weekend reports, so the actual number of hospitalized patients may be higher. The number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs has increased by 16 to 382 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators has increased by 19 to 236.
A total of 39,470 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 7,736 to 17,716.
A total of 2,031,735 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 50,453 from yesterday, with 311,248 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,963 from yesterday. The number of fully vaccinated people represents 2.11% of Ontario’s population, with fully and partially vaccinated people representing 13.79% of the population; an estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
There are 215 new cases in Ontario schools, an increase of 48 from March 26, including 160 student cases and 45 staff cases. There are 36 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, a decrease of 14 from March 26, including 24 cases among children and 12 cases among staff.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 24 new cases to report, including 8 in Hastings Prince Edward, 8 in Northumberland, 5 in Kawartha Lakes, and 3 in Peterborough. There are no new cases in Haliburton.
There are 7 new regional cases of presumed variants of concern, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Peterborough.
There is 1 new hospitalization in Kawartha Lakes.
An additional 10 cases have been resolved, including 3 in Peterborough, 3 in Northumberland, 2 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Haliburton, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward.
There are currently 117 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 12 from yesterday, including 52 in Peterborough, 37 in Hastings Prince Edward (6 in Quinte West, 16 in Belleville, 6 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 3 in Prince Edward County, 6 in Central Hastings, and 1 in North Hastings), 16 in Northumberland, and 12 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no active cases in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 855 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (793 resolved with 10 deaths), 579 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (525 resolved with 55 deaths), 494 in Northumberland County (466 resolved with 12 deaths), 65 in Haliburton County (64 resolved with 1 death), and 479 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (436 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. Note: Due to updates and maintenance, the health unit’s online data tool will not be updated on March 29 or 30; information on the number of close contacts, deaths, hospitalizations, completed tests, and outbreaks will not be available.
Confirmed positive: 855 (increase of 3)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (decrease of 1)*
Presumed variants of concern cases: 185 (increase of 1)
Active cases: 52 (no change)
Close contacts: 257
Deaths: 10
Resolved: 793 (increase of 3)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 30**
Total tests completed: Over 46,250
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)
*A confirmed case of a variant of concern has been reclassified as a presumed variant of concern.
**As of March 29, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 10 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change) and 22 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (increase of 2).
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 28 and 29.
Confirmed positive: 1,138, including 579 in Kawartha Lakes, 494 in Northumberland, and 65 in Haliburton (increase of 13, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes and 8 in Northumberland)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 51, including 14 in Kawartha Lakes, 37 in Northumberland (increase of 6, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland)**
Active cases: 28, including 12 in Kawartha Lakes, 16 in Northumberland (net increase of 5)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
High-risk contacts: 124, including 43 in Kawartha Lakes, 65 in Northumberland, and 9 in Haliburton (net decrease of 12)***
Hospitalizations (total to date): 50, including 30 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: 1,055, including 525 in Kawartha Lakes, 466 in Northumberland, 64 in Haliburton (increase of 6, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes, 3 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 161,345 (increase of 413)
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 (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 7 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of March 27, 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: 479 (increase of 8)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 10 (no change)
Active cases: 37 (increase of 7)
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: 436 (increase of 1)
Tests completed: 82,902 (increase of 440)
Vaccine doses administered: 25,213 (increase of 281)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 1,915 (no change)
Outbreaks: None (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 345,234 (increase of 2,094)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,749 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 124); 63 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (no change); 82 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 15)
VOC R(t): 1.36 (increase of 0.05, last updated March 25)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 2,094 (increase of 56)
Resolved: 318,932 (increase of 1,524), 92.4% of all cases (decrease of 0.1%)
Positivity rate: 6.1% (increase of 1.6%)
Hospitalizations: 841 (decrease of 76)**
Hospitalizations in ICU: 382 (increase of 16)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 236 (increase of 19)
Deaths: 7,337 (increase of 10)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 13 (increase of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,893 (no change)
Total tests completed: 12,462,570 (increase of 39,470)
Tests under investigation: 17,716 (decrease of 7,736)
Vaccination doses administered: 2,031,735 (increase of 50,453), 13.79% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.34%)***
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 311,248 (increase of 1,963), 2.11% 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.
**More than 10% of hospitals do not submit data for weekend reports, so the actual number of hospitalized patients may be higher.
***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.
