Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 2,333 new cases — a full week of increases over 2,000 — with the seven-day average of daily cases increasing by 109 to 2,316. The province is also reporting 98 more confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, 1 more confirmed case of the B.1.351 South Africa variant, and 2 more confirmed cases of the P.1 Brazilian variant.
At a joint media conference with federal and Toronto municipal officials today to announce joint funding to expand Canada’s vaccine manufacturing capacity at a Sanofi Pasteur plant in North York,
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he was “very, very concerned” about rising case numbers and ICU admissions.
“Stay tuned, you’ll hear an announcement tomorrow,” Ford said in response to a reporter’s question, urging Ontarians to avoid social gatherings on the Easter long weekend.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 47 new cases to report and an additional 8 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region increasing by 36 from yesterday to 154. Most of the new cases — 32 — are in Hastings Prince Edward (currently in the ‘Green-Prevent’ level), which overtook Peterborough today (currently in the ‘Red-Control’ level) with the highest number of active cases in the region at 71 due to outbreaks in Quinte West and Belleville. See below for detailed numbers from each regional health unit.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (785), Peel (433), York (222), Hamilton (153), Ottawa (124), and Durham (120).
There are double-digit increases in Middlesex-London (93), Niagara (77), Windsor-Essex (50), Halton (50), Waterloo (38), Thunder Bay (30), Sudbury (26), Simcoe Muskoka (24), Eastern Ontario (20), Southwestern (20), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (11), and Brant (10), with smaller increases in Hastings Prince Edward (7), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (7), and Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (6).
The remaining 13 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 (816) among people ages 20-39 followed by 685 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,973 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 92.1%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has dropped by 1.7% to 4.5%, meaning that 45 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 30.
Ontario is reporting 15 new COVID-19 deaths today, with 4 new deaths in long-term care homes for the second day in a row. Ontario has averaged 15 new daily deaths over the past week, an increase of 1 from yesterday.
The number of hospitalizations has increased by 29 to 1,111, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs increasing by 9 to 396 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators increasing by 3 to 252.
A total of 52,532 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation increasing by 5,400 to 40,466.
A total of 2,192,2530 doses of vaccine have now been administered — a record increase of 89,873 doses yesterday — with 315,820 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,931 from yesterday.
The number of fully vaccinated people now represents 2.14% of Ontario’s population, an increase of 0.01% from yesterday, with fully and partially vaccinated people representing 14.88% of the population, an increase of 0.61% from yesterday. An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
There are 322 new cases in Ontario schools, a decrease of 196 from yesterday, including 282 student cases and 50 staff cases. There are 83 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, a decrease of 13 from yesterday, including 54 cases among children and 29 cases among staff.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 47 new cases to report, including 32 in Hastings Prince Edward, 9 in Peterborough, 4 in Kawartha Lakes, and 2 in Northumberland. There are no new cases in Haliburton.
Two outbreaks at two unidentified workplaces in the City of Peterborough were declared on March 31.
There is 1 new hospitalization in Hastings Prince Edward.
There are 13 new regional cases of presumed variants of concern, including 6 in Peterborough, 5 in Hastings Prince Edward, and 2 in Kawartha Lakes.
An additional 8 cases have been resolved, including 7 in Peterborough and 1 in Kawartha Lakes. An outbreak at an unidentified congregate living facility in Peterborough was declared resolved on March 29.
There are currently 154 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 36 from yesterday, including 71 in Hastings Prince Edward (11 in Quinte West, 32 in Belleville, 6 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 5 in Prince Edward County, 7 in Central Hastings, and 2 in North Hastings), 52 in Peterborough, 18 in Northumberland, and 13 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no active cases in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 875 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (813 resolved with 10 deaths), 584 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (526 resolved with 55 deaths), 497 in Northumberland County (467 resolved with 12 deaths), 65 in Haliburton County (64 resolved with 1 death), and 514 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (437 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: 875 (increase of 9)
Total variants of concern cases: 199 (increase of 6)
Active cases: 52 (increase of 2)
Close contacts: 198 (decrease of 59)
Deaths: 10
Resolved: 813 (increase of 7)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 30 (no change)*
Total tests completed: Over 46,350 (increase of 100)
Outbreaks: Gzowski College student residence at Trent University, Empress Gardens retirement home in Peterborough, Workplace #1 in City of Peterborough, Workplace #2 in City of Peterborough (net increase of 1)
Vaccine doses administered: 24,309 (last updated March 25)
*As of March 31, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 10 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change) and 24 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (increase of 1).
**An outbreak at an unidentified congregate living facility in Peterborough was declared resolved on March 29. Two outbreaks at two unidentified workplaces in the City of Peterborough were declared on March 31.
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: 1,146 including 584 in Kawartha Lakes, 497 in Northumberland, and 65 in Haliburton (increase of 6, including 4 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 56, including 18 in Kawartha Lakes and 38 in Northumberland (increase of 2 in Kawartha Lakes)**
Active cases: 34, including 16 in Kawartha Lakes and 18 in Northumberland (increase of 5, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
High-risk contacts: 130, including 42 in Kawartha Lakes, 67 in Northumberland, and 5 in Haliburton (net increase of 9)***
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: 1,057, including 526 in Kawartha Lakes, 467 in Northumberland, 64 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)
Tests completed: 162,785 (increase of 716)
Vaccine doses administered: 23,198 (increase of 7,410, last updated on March 29)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 2,618 (increase of 335, last updated on March 29)
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 31, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 1 patients 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: 514 (increase of 32)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 20 (increase of 5)
Active cases: 71 (increase of 32)
Deaths: 6 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 1 (increase of 1)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change)
Resolved: 437 (no change)
Tests completed: 82,931 (increase of 8)
Vaccine doses administered: 28,473 (increase of 1,678)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 1,946 (increase of 26)
Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Trenton (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 349,903 (increase of 2,333)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,898 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 98); 69 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 1); 92 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 2)
VOC R(t): 1.35 (no change, last updated March 26)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 2,316 (increase of 109)
Resolved: 322,382 (increase of 1,973), 92.1% of all cases (decrease of 0.1%)
Positivity rate: 4.5% (decrease of 1.7%)
Hospitalizations: 1,111 (increase of 21)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 396 (increase of 9)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 252 (increase of 3)
Deaths: 7,366 (increase of 15)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 15 (increase of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,901 (increase of 4)
Total tests completed: 12,551,173 (increase of 52,532)
Tests under investigation: 40,466 (increase of 5,400)
Vaccination doses administered: 2,192,2530 (increase of 89,873), 14.88% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.61%)**
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 315,820 (increase of 1,931), 2.14% 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.
