Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
There’s a mix of good news and bad news in today’s update. The good news is Ontario is reporting 3,469 new cases — the first time in a week cases have been under 4,000 and the smallest increase since April 7 when 3,295 cases were reported — with the seven-day average of daily cases decreasing by 29 to 4,319.
While 9 health units are still reporting at least triple-digit increases, 12 are reporting 5 or fewer cases. And, for the first time since March 16, the percentage of resolved cases has increased, although only by 1%.
The bad news is that hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and patients on ventilators continue to climb to record highs, with 22 more deaths increasing the seven-day average of daily deaths to 25 (although none of the deaths are in long-term care homes). Also, for the third day in a row, Ontario has administered fewer than 100,000 vaccine doses, which is the minimum number of daily doses that Ontario’s COVID-19 science advisory table stated would be required to bring the virus under control.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there’s also good and bad news. While there are 44 new cases to report, an additional 61 cases have been resolved, so the number of active cases has decreased by 23 to 353. However, there have been 2 new COVID-related deaths in the region: 1 in Peterborough and 1 in Northumberland — the 13th deaths for both areas.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (1,074), Peel (775), York (406), Durham (256), Ottawa (197), Halton (130), and Niagara (106).
There are double-digit increases today in Middlesex-London (78), Simcoe Muskoka (77), Waterloo (76), Windsor-Essex (46), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (46), Hamilton (45), Brant (27), Southwestern (20), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (14), Grey Bruce (13), Haldimand-Norfolk (13), and Porcupine (11), with smaller increases in Eastern Ontario (9), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (8), and Lambton (7).
The remaining 12 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with only 1 health unit (North Bay Parry Sound) reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 55% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (1,248) among people ages 20-39 followed by 1,027 cases among people ages 40-59 and 641 cases among people 19 and under.
With 3,369 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has increased by 0.1% to at 88.1% — the last time the percentage of resolved cases increased was on March 16. The average positivity rate across Ontario has decreased by 0.5% to 10.0%, meaning that 100 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on April 19.
Ontario is reporting 22 new COVID-19 deaths today, with no new deaths in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 25 new daily deaths over the past week, an increase of 1 from yesterday.
The number of hospitalizations has increased by 158 to 2,360, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs increasing by 18 to 773 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators increasing by 21 to 537.
A total of 40,596 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation increasing by 7,705 to 29,217.
A total of 3,995,187 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 90,409 from yesterday, with 347,597 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,592 from yesterday.
The number of fully vaccinated people represents 2.36% of Ontario’s population, an increase of 0.01% from yesterday, with fully and partially vaccinated people representing 27.12% of the population, an increase of 0.61% from yesterday. An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 44 new cases to report, including 20 in Northumberland, 13 in Peterborough, and 11 in Hastings Prince Edward. There are no new cases in Kawartha Lakes or Haliburton.
There have been 2 new COVID-related deaths in the region, including 1 in Peterborough and 1 in Northumberland.
An outbreak at an unidentified workplace in Prince Edward County was declared on April 19.
There are 32 new regional cases of variants of concern, including 13 in Hastings Prince Edward, 6 in Peterborough, 5 in Haliburton, 4 in Kawartha Lakes, and 4 in Northumberland.
An additional 61 cases have been resolved, including 21 in Northumberland, 16 in Hastings Prince Edward, 15 in Peterborough, 8 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Haliburton. Outbreaks at Swiss Chalet in Cobourg and at an unidentified workplace in Belleville are resolved.
There are currently 353 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 23 from yesterday, including 119 in Peterborough, 97 in Hastings Prince Edward (19 in Quinte West, 43 in Belleville, 6 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 14 in Prince Edward County, 8 in Central Hastings, and 7 in North Hastings), 89 in Northumberland, 37 in Kawartha Lakes, and 11 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 1,127 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (995 resolved with 13 deaths), 671 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (591 resolved with 56 deaths), 766 in Northumberland County (664 resolved with 13 deaths), 91 in Haliburton County (79 resolved with 1 death), and 826 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (721 resolved with 8 deaths). The two most recent deaths were reported in Northumberland and in Peterborough on April 20.
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: 1,127 (increase of 12)*
Total variants of concern cases: 373 (increase of 6)
Active cases: 119 (decrease of 4)
Close contacts: 308 (increase of 2)
Deaths: 13 (increase of 1)
Resolved: 995 (increase of 15)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 40 (increase of 2)**
Total tests completed: Over 48,800 (no change)
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)
*The health unit is reporting 13 new cases in the last 24 hours. The total case count has increased by 12 because 1 previous case was removed.
**As of April 20, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting 16 patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 (decrease of 5) and a total of 46 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: 1,528, including 671 in Kawartha Lakes, 766 in Northumberland, and 91 in Haliburton (increase of 20 in Northumberland)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 250, including 90 in Kawartha Lakes, 146 in Northumberland, and 14 in Haliburton (increase of 13, including 4 in Kawartha Lakes, 4 in Northumberland, and 5 in Haliburton)**
Active cases: 137, including 37 in Kawartha Lakes, 89 in Northumberland, and 11 in Haliburton (decrease of 14, including 9 in Kawartha Lakes, 4 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Probable cases: 2, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes (decrease of 1 in Haliburton)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 56, including 33 in Kawartha Lakes, 20 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (decrease of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)***
Deaths (including among probable cases): 70, including 56 in Kawartha Lakes, 13 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Northumberland)
Resolved: 1,334, including 591 in Kawartha Lakes, 664 in Northumberland, and 79 in Haliburton (increase of 30, including 8 in Kawartha Lakes, 21 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 174,516 (increase of 896)
Vaccine doses administered: 51,711 (increase of 13,296 as of April 19)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 3,408 (increase of 361 as of April 19)
Outbreaks: St. Mary Catholic Secondary School 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, Grafton Post Office in Grafton, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School in Lindsay (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.
***As of April 20, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 6 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change).
****An outbreak at Swiss Chalet in Cobourg has been 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: 826 (increase of 11)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 237 (increase of 13)
Active cases: 97 (decrease of 5)
Deaths: 8 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 12 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 2 (decrease of 2)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 2 (increase of 1)
Resolved: 721 (increase of 16)
Tests completed: 124,861 (increase of 98)
Vaccine doses administered: 53,889 (increase of 2,321)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 3,642 increase of 108)
Outbreaks: Tri-board Bus #499 in Belleville, Unidentified congregate living facility in Belleville, Unidentified community outbreak in Belleville, Unidentified workplace in Prince Edward County (no net change)*
*An outbreak at an unidentified workplace in Belleville was resolved on April 19. An outbreak at an unidentified workplace in Prince Edward County was declared on April 19.
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 424,911 (increase of 3,469)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) cases: 39,276 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 2,697); 105 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 1); 211 of P.1 Brazilian variant (no change)
7-day average of daily new cases: 4,319 (decrease of 29)
Positivity rate: 10.0% (increase of 0.5%)
Resolved: 374,213 (increase of 3,369), 88.1% of all cases (increase of 0.1%)
Hospitalizations: 2,360 (increase of 158)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 773 (increase of 18)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 537 (increase of 21)
Deaths: 7,757 (increase of 22)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 25 (increase of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,912 (no change)
Total tests completed: 13,616,626 (increase of 40,596)
Tests under investigation: 29,217 (increase of 7,705)
Vaccination doses administered: 3,995,187 (increase of 90,409), 27.12% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.61%)*
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 347,597 (increase of 1,592), 2.36% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.01%)*
*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.
