Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
In the fourth day of the provincial shutdown, Ontario is reporting 3,065 new COVID-19 cases with 8 health units now reporting triple-digit increases and the seven-day average of daily cases increasing by 104 to 2,862. There are 30 more confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant and 3 more cases of the P.1 Brazilian variant.
The percentage of active cases continues to increase and the positivity rate has climbed to 8.9%. Hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and the number of people on ventilators all continue to increase, although the number of new deaths has declined.
At a media conference earlier today, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said there would be an announcement on Wednesday (April 7) regarding further public health restrictions.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 78 new cases to report and an additional 31 cases resolved, with the number of active cases spiking by 46 to 319. See below for detailed numbers from each regional health unit.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (955), Peel (561), York (320), Ottawa (165), Niagara (132), Hamilton (128), Halton (119), and Durham (101).
There are double-digit increases today in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (88), Middlesex-London (82), Waterloo (71), Simcoe Muskoka (55), Brant (45), Windsor-Essex (40), Hastings Prince Edward (35), Sudbury (23), Eastern Ontario (22), Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (21), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (19), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (12), Haldimand-Norfolk (12), and Southwestern (11), with smaller increases in Renfrew (8), Grey Bruce (8), Northwestern (6), and Lambton (6).
The remaining 8 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with only 1 health unit (North Bay Parry Sound) reporting no new cases.
Of today’s new cases, 58% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (1,167) among people ages 20-39 followed by 884 cases among people ages 40-59 and 603 cases among people 19 and under.
With 1,976 more cases resolved, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.3% to 90.7%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 1.1% to 8.9%, meaning that 89 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on April 5.
Ontario is reporting 8 new COVID-19 deaths, with no new deaths in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 15 new daily deaths over the past week, a decrease of 1 from yesterday.
The number of hospitalizations increased yesterday by 219 to 1,161, but this number excludes data from more than 10% of hospitals so the actual number of hospitalizations may be higher. The number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs has increased by 14 to 510 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators has increased by 17 to 310.
A total of 37,541 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation increasing by 11,434 to 29,173.
A total of 2,621,839 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 76,199, with 323,148 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 951.
The number of fully vaccinated people remains at 2.19% of Ontario’s population, with fully and partially vaccinated people representing 17.80% of the population, an increase of 0.52% from yesterday. An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
There are 236 new cases in Ontario schools, a decrease of 13 from the last update on April 1, including 207 student cases and 29 staff cases. There are 76 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, an increase of 17 since April 1, including 54 cases among children and 22 cases among staff.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 78 new cases to report, including 41 in Northumberland, 19 in Hastings Prince Edward, 13 in Peterborough, 3 in Kawartha Lakes, and 2 in Haliburton.
Outbreaks have been declared at The Richmond Retirement Residence in Belleville, St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Cobourg, and Timber House Resort in Brighton.
There are 49 new regional cases of presumed variants of concern, including 28 in Peterborough, 10 in Northumberland, 6 in Hastings Prince Edward, and 5 in Kawartha Lakes.
There is 1 new hospitalization in Kawartha Lakes and 1 new hospitalization in Northumberland.
An additional 31 cases have been resolved, including 11 in Northumberland, 8 in Hastings Prince Edward, 8 in Kawartha Lakes, 3 in Haliburton, and 1 in Peterborough. An outbreak at Golden Plough Lodge in Cobourg was declared over on April 6, with a single confirmed positive case in one staff member resolved with no transmission to residents or other staff.
There are currently 319 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 46 from yesterday, including 148 in Hastings Prince Edward (57 in Quinte West, 52 in Belleville, 6 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 12 in Prince Edward County, 17 in Central Hastings, and 1 in North Hastings), 79 in Peterborough, 63 in Northumberland, 22 in Kawartha Lakes, and 7 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 932 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (842 resolved with 11 deaths), 604 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (540 resolved with 55 deaths), 557 in Northumberland County (482 resolved with 12 deaths), 75 in Haliburton County (67 resolved with 1 death), and 628 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (470 resolved with 6 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Peterborough on April 5.
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: 932 (increase of 13)
Total variants of concern cases: 240 (increase of 28)
Active cases: 79 (increase of 12)
Close contacts: 235 (increase of 1)
Deaths: 11 (no change)
Resolved: 842 (increase of 1)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 31 (no change)*
Total tests completed: Over 47,250 (increase of 50)
Outbreaks: Empress Gardens retirement home in Peterborough, Unidentified workplace #1 in Peterborough, Unidentified workplace #2 in Peterborough, Champlain Annex at Trent University in Peterborough, Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School in Peterborough (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 30,433 (last updated April 1)
*As of April 6, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting 11 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (increase of at least 2) and 27 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 April 4 to 6.
Confirmed positive: 1,236, including 604 in Kawartha Lakes, 557 in Northumberland, and 75 in Haliburton (increase of 45, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes, 41 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 91, including 38 in Kawartha Lakes and 53 in Northumberland (increase of 15, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes and 10 in Northumberland)**
Active cases: 92, including 22 in Kawartha Lakes, 63 in Northumberland, and 7 in Haliburton (net increase of 23)
Probable cases: 2 in Northumberland (net decrease of 1)
High-risk contacts: 283, including 56 in Kawartha Lakes, 165 in Northumberland, and 16 in Haliburton (increase of 76)***
Hospitalizations (total to date): 53, including 32 in Kawartha Lakes, 18 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (increase of 2, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland)****
Deaths (including among probable cases): 68, including 55 in Kawartha Lakes, 12 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change)
Resolved: 1,089, including 540 in Kawartha Lakes, 482 in Northumberland, 67 in Haliburton (increase of 22, including 8 in Kawartha Lakes, 11 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 165,815 (increase of 1,682)
Vaccine doses administered: 30,408 (increase of 7,210 since March 29)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 2,989 (increase of 371 since March 29)
Outbreaks: St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Cobourg, Timber House Resort in Brighton (increase of 2)*****
*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 46 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of April 6, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 2 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change).
*****An outbreak at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Cobourg was declared on April 3 and an outbreak at Timber House Resort in Brighton was declared on April 5. An outbreak at Golden Plough Lodge in Cobourg was declared over on April 6, with a single confirmed positive case in one staff member resolved with no transmission to residents or other staff.
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: 628 (increase of 19)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 67 (increase of 6)
Active cases: 148 (increase of 11)
Deaths: 6 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 4 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 1 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change)
Resolved: 470 (increase of 8)
Tests completed: 115,270 (increase of 29,364)
Vaccine doses administered: 35,202 (increase of 1,251)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 2,234 (increase of 136)
Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Trenton, Unidentified setting in Belleville, Unidentified child care facility in Belleville, Unidentified workplace in Quinte West, The Richmond Retirement Residence in Belleville (increase of 1)*
*An outbreak at The Richmond Retirement Residence in Belleville was declared on April 6.
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 367,602 (increase of 3,065)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 2,165 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 30); 71 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (no change); 106 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 3)
VOC R(t): 1.25 (no change, last updated April 1)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 2,862 (increase of 104)
Positivity rate: 8.9% (increase of 1.1%)
Resolved: 333,576 (increase of 1,976), 90.7% of all cases (decrease of 0.3%)
Hospitalizations: 1,161 (increase of 219)**
Hospitalizations in ICU: 510 (increase of 14)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 310 (increase of 17)
Deaths: 7,458 (increase of 8)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 15 (decrease of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,903 (no change)
Total tests completed: 12,855,397 (increase of 37,541)
Tests under investigation: 29,173 (increase of 11,434)
Vaccination doses administered: 2,621,839 (increase of 76,199), 17.80% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.52%)***
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 323,148 (increase of 951), 2.19% of Ontario’s population (no change)***
*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.
**As more than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for this report, the actual number of hospitalizations may be higher than reported.
***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.
