Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 4,250 new cases, with Toronto reporting 1,392 new cases and 9 other health units reporting triple-digit increases. The seven-day average of daily cases has decreased by 29 to 4,341.
There are now 34,112 cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant in Ontario, an increase of 1,785 from yesterday, with 3 more cases of the B.1.351 South Africa variant. Hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and patients on ventilators continue to reach record highs.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 22 new cases and an additional 16 cases resolved, with the number of active cases increasing by 5 to 422. These numbers do not include Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton as the health unit does not issue reports on Sundays. See below for detailed numbers from each regional health unit.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (1,392), Peel (714), York (483), Durham (279), Ottawa (239), Hamilton (151), Niagara (149), Halton (127), Middlesex-London (117), and Simcoe Muskoka (101).
There are double-digit increases today in Windsor-Essex (75), Waterloo (74), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (73), Eastern Ontario (52), Haldimand-Norfolk (35), Grey Bruce (24), Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (22), Southwestern (22), Sudbury (15), Peterborough (15), Lambton (14), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (11), Huron Perth (11), Brant (11), Northwestern (10), and Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (10), with smaller increases in Hastings Prince Edward (8) and Chatham-Kent (6).
The remaining 6 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with only 1 health unit (Timiskaming) reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 55% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (1,556) among people ages 20-39 followed by 1,259 cases among people ages 40-59 and 775 cases among people 19 and under.
With 3,338 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to at 88.2%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 2.3% to 9.2%, meaning that 92 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on April 17.
Ontario is reporting 18 new COVID-19 deaths today, with no new deaths in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 23 new daily deaths over the past week, a decrease of 1 from yesterday.
The number of hospitalizations has increased by 42 to 2,107, but this total does not include data from 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 15 to 741 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators has increased by 5 to 506.
A total of 53,776 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 8,869 to 28,651.
A total of 3,837,881 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 86,565 from yesterday, with 345,310 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,066.
The number of fully vaccinated people represents 2.34% of Ontario’s population (no change from yesterday), with fully and partially vaccinated people representing 26.05% of the population, an increase of 0.59% from yesterday. An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 22 new cases to report, including 11 in Peterborough and 11 in Hastings Prince Edward. Updated numbers are unavailable for Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton as the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit does not issue a report on Sundays.
There are 26 new regional cases of variants of concern, including 19 in Peterborough and 7 in Hastings Prince Edward.
An additional 16 cases have been resolved, including 11 in Hastings Prince Edward and 5 in Peterborough.
There are currently 422 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 5 from yesterday, including 132 in Peterborough, 118 in Northumberland, 114 in Hastings Prince Edward (23 in Quinte West, 58 in Belleville, 5 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 16 in Prince Edward County, 6 in Central Hastings, and 6 in North Hastings), 48 in Kawartha Lakes, and 10 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 1,108 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (964 resolved with 12 deaths), 657 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (569 resolved with 56 deaths), 712 in Northumberland County (583 resolved with 12 deaths), 85 in Haliburton County (75 resolved with 1 death), and 814 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (693 resolved with 7 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Kawartha Lakes on April 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: 1,108 (increase of 11)
Total variants of concern cases: 360 (increase of 19)
Active cases: 132 (increase of 6)
Close contacts: 365 (decrease of 19)
Deaths: 12 (no change)
Resolved: 964 (increase of 5)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 38 (no change)*
Total tests completed: Over 48,400 (increase of 250)
Outbreaks: Empress Gardens retirement home in Peterborough, Unidentified congregate living facility #3 in Peterborough, Unidentified workplace #5 in Peterborough, Unidentified workplace #6 in Peterborough, Trent Champlain Residence: West Towers in Peterborough (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 41,148 (as of April 15)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 2,427 (as of April 15)
*As of April 16, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting 21 patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change) and a total of 45 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. These numbers are from April 17.
Confirmed positive: 1,471, including 661 in Kawartha Lakes, 723 in Northumberland, and 87 in Haliburton (increase of 16, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes, 9 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 223, including 76 in Kawartha Lakes, 139 in Northumberland, and 9 in Haliburton (increase of 8, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 5 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton)**
Active cases: 176, including 48 in Kawartha Lakes, 118 in Northumberland, and 10 in Haliburton (increase of 5, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Probable cases: 2, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Haliburton (increase of 2)
High-risk contacts: Not available***
Hospitalizations (total to date): 55, including 32 in Kawartha Lakes, 20 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (no change)****
Deaths (including among probable cases): 69, including 56 in Kawartha Lakes, 12 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change)
Resolved: 1,239, including 570 in Kawartha Lakes, 593 in Northumberland, and 76 in Haliburton (increase of 12, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 10 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 167,408
Vaccine doses administered: 38,415 (increase of 8,007 as of April 12)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 3,047 (increase of 58 as of April 12)
Outbreaks: St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Cobourg, Timber House Resort in Brighton, Swiss Chalet in Cobourg, Cobourg Collegiate Institute in Cobourg, Fenelon Court long-term care home in Fenelon Falls, North Hope Central Public School in Campbellcroft, Grafton Public School in Grafton, St. John Vianney Church in Highland Grove in Haliburton County, Our Lady of Lourdes in Cardiff in Haliburton County (net increase 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.
***As of April 14, the health unit is no longer reporting high-risk contacts due to a “process change of not collecting high risk information”.
****As of April 16, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change).
*****An outbreak at Christian Horizons in Port Hope has been resolved. Outbreaks at St. John Vianney Church in Highland Grove and Our Lady of Lourdes in Cardiff, both in Haliburton County, were declared on April 16.
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: 814 (increase of 11)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 219 (increase of 7)
Active cases: 114 (decrease of 1)
Deaths: 7 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 12 (decrease of 1)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 5 (decrease of 1)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 1 (no change)
Resolved: 693 (increase of 11)
Tests completed: 124,395 (increase of 3,697)
Vaccine doses administered: 51,057 (increase of 911)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 3,289 (increase of 8)
Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Belleville, Tri-board Bus #499 in Belleville, Unidentified congregate living facility in Belleville, Unidentified community outbreak in Belleville (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 416,995 (increase of 4,250)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) cases: 34,112 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 1,785); 104 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 3); 207 of P.1 Brazilian variant (no change)*
VOC R(t): 1.23 (last updated April 2)**
7-day average of daily new cases: 4,341 (decrease of 29)
Positivity rate: 9.2% (increase of 2.3%)
Resolved: 367,691 (increase of 3,338), 88.2% of all cases (decrease of 0.1%)
Hospitalizations: 2,107 (increase of 42)***
Hospitalizations in ICU: 741 (increase of 15)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 506 (increase of 5)
Deaths: 7,716 (increase of 18)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 23 (decrease of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,912 (no change)
Total tests completed: 13,533,157 (increase of 53,776)
Tests under investigation: 28,651 (decrease of 8,869)
Vaccination doses administered: 3,837,881 (increase of 86,565), 26.05% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.59%)****
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 345,310 (increase of 1,066), 2.34% of Ontario’s population (no change)****
*On April 8, the government changed the way it reports cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant. Previously they were reported only when genetic sequencing confirmed they were of the B.1.1.7 lineage. Since genetic sequencing completed to date has determined 95% of specimens screening positive for the N501Y mutation have been found to be the B.1.1.7 UK variant, specimens with the N501Y mutation are now reported as cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant.
**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.
****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.
