Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Ontario is reporting 3,265 new cases today, with Toronto reporting 1,044 cases and 6 other health units reporting triple-digit increases. The seven-day average of daily cases has decreased by 29 to 3,888. There are 2,987 more cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, 37 more cases of the B.1.351 South Africa, and 20 more cases of the P.1 Brazilian variant.
While hospitalizations have increased, there has been a slight decrease in the number of ICU admissions and a larger decrease in the number of patients on ventilators. Ontario is reporting 29 deaths today, including 3 deaths in long-term care homes — the highest number since April 17, when 3 deaths were also reported.
Repeating a pattern seen over the past three weeks, the number of daily vaccines administered on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday has been below 100,000 — the minimum number Ontario’s COVID-19 science advisory table says is necessary to bring the virus under control. However, the virus’s effective reproduction number for variants of concern has now dropped below 1 since it was last reported on April 2; an effective reproduction number under 1 is required to eliminate a disease from the population.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 45 new cases to report (including 19 in Peterborough, 14 in Hastings Prince Edward, 9 in Northumberland, and 3 in Kawartha Lakes) and an additional 34 cases resolved, with the number of active cases increasing by 8 to 254. There has been 1 new COVID-related death in Hastings Prince Edward and 1 in Northumberland.
Most of the new cases reported today are in Toronto (1,044), Peel (673), York (452), Durham (171), Ottawa (150), Halton (138), and Hamilton (119).
There are double-digit increases reported today in Middlesex-London (79), Niagara (73), Simcoe Muskoka (61), Waterloo (56), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (49), Windsor-Essex (48), Brant (23), Porcupine (21), Southwestern (17), and Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (15), with smaller increases in Hastings Prince Edward (9), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (9), Lambton (8), Haldimand-Norfolk (8), Northwestern (6), and Sudbury (6).
The remaining 11 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 1 health unit (Huron Perth) reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 56% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (1,184) among people ages 20-39 followed by 987 cases among people ages 40-59 and 660 cases among people 19 and under.
With 3,908 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has increased by 0.2% to at 89.4% — the eighth straight day the percentage of resolved cases has increased. The average positivity rate across Ontario has decreased by 0.7% to 10.2%, meaning that 102 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on April 26.
Ontario is reporting 29 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 3 new deaths in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 30 new daily deaths over the past week, an increase of 1 from yesterday.
The number of hospitalizations has increased by 65 to 2,336, but the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs has decreased by 2 to 875 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators has decreased by 16 to 589.
A total of 34,000 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation increasing by 11,895 to 29,264.
A total of 4,791,030 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 94,819 from yesterday, with 362,563 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,397 from yesterday. Over the past three weeks, the number of daily vaccine doses has fallen below 100,000 on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
The number of fully vaccinated people represents 2.46% of Ontario’s population, an increase of 0.01% from yesterday, with fully and partially vaccinated people representing 32.52% of the population, an increase of 0.64% from yesterday. An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 45 new cases to report, including 19 in Peterborough, 14 in Hastings Prince Edward, 9 in Northumberland, and 3 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no new cases in Haliburton.
An outbreak was declared at an unidentified workplace in Peterborough on April 26. An outbreak at QHC Belleville General Hospital, involving 3 cases, was declared on April 27.
There have been 2 new COVID-related deaths in the region: 1 in Northumberland and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward. There are 2 new hospitalizations in Peterborough.
There are 17 new regional cases of variants of concern, including 7 in Peterborough, 4 in Hastings Prince Edward, 3 in Northumberland, 2 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Haliburton.
An additional 34 cases have been resolved, including 9 in Kawartha Lakes, 9 in Northumberland, 8 in Hastings Prince Edward, 5 in Peterborough, and 3 in Haliburton. An outbreak at an unidentified congregate living facility in Belleville was declared resolved on April 27.
There are currently 254 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 8 from yesterday, including 90 in Peterborough, 79 in Hastings Prince Edward (14 in Quinte West, 43 in Belleville, 2 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 5 in Prince Edward County, 12 in Central Hastings, and 3 in North Hastings), 46 in Northumberland, 33 in Kawartha Lakes, and 6 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 1,198 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (1,095 resolved with 13 deaths), 707 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (631 resolved with 56 deaths), 806 in Northumberland County (746 resolved with 14 deaths), 98 in Haliburton County (91 resolved with 1 death), and 895 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (806 resolved with 9 deaths). The two most recent deaths were reported in Hastings Prince Edward and Northumberland on April 27.
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: 1,198 (increase of 19)*
Total variants of concern cases: 416 (increase of 7)
Active cases: 90 (increase of 14)
Close contacts: 227 (decrease of 20)
Deaths: 13 (no change)
Resolved: 1,095 (increase of 5)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 49 (increase of 2)**
ICU admissions (total to date): 8 (no change)
Total tests completed: Over 49,600 (increase of 50)
Outbreaks: Empress Gardens retirement home in Peterborough, Unidentified congregate living facility #3 in Peterborough, Unidentified workplace #5 in Peterborough, Trent Champlain Residence: West Towers in Peterborough, Unidentified workplace #7 in Peterborough (increase of 1)**
Vaccine doses administered: 43,602 (increase of 2,454 as of April 22)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 2,481 (increase of 54 as of April 22)
*The health unit is reporting 18 new cases in the last 24 hours. The total case count has increased by 19 because 1 case has been added to a previous day.
**As of April 27, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting 17 patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 (increase of 4) and a total of 60 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (no change).
**An outbreak was declared at an unidentified workplace in Peterborough on April 26.
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: 1,611, including 707 in Kawartha Lakes, 806 in Northumberland, and 98 in Haliburton (increase of 12, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes and 9 in Northumberland)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 345, including 105 in Kawartha Lakes, 222 in Northumberland, and 18 in Haliburton (increase of 6, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes, 3 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)**
Active cases: 85, including 33 in Kawartha Lakes, 46 in Northumberland, and 6 in Haliburton (decrease of 9, including 6 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Haliburton)
Probable cases: 5 in Northumberland (increase of 2)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 57, including 33 in Kawartha Lakes, 21 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (no change)***
Deaths (including among probable cases): 71, including 56 in Kawartha Lakes, 14 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Northumberland)
Resolved: 1,468, including 631 in Kawartha Lakes, 746 in Northumberland, and 91 in Haliburton (increase of 21, including 9 in Kawartha Lakes, 9 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 178,660 (increase of 817)
Vaccine doses administered: 64,953 (increase of 13,242 as of April 26)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 3,548 (increase of 140 as of April 26)
Outbreaks: Fenelon Court long-term care home in Fenelon Falls, Grafton Post Office in Grafton, Summersweet Custom Design & Build Inc. in Haliburton (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.
***As of April 27, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 10 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: 895 (increase of 14)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 280 (increase of 4)
Active cases: 79 (increase of 3)
Deaths: 9 (increase of 1)
Currently hospitalized: 16 (decrease of 1)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 8 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 4 (no change)
Resolved: 806 (increase of 8)
Tests completed: 128,277 (increase of 48)
Vaccine doses administered: 63,932 (increase of 726)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 3,972 (increase of 10)
Outbreaks: Unidentified community outbreak in Belleville, Unidentified workplace in Prince Edward County, Unidentified workplace in Belleville, QHC Belleville General Hospital (no net change)*
*An outbreak at QHC Belleville General Hospital, involving 3 cases, was declared on April 27. An outbreak at an unidentified congregate living facility in Belleville was declared resolved on April 27.
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 452,126 (increase of 3,265)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) cases: 57,423 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 2,987); 199 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 37); 371 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 20)*
VOC R(t): 0.94 (decrease of 0.29 since last update on April 2)**
7-day average of daily new cases: 3,888 (decrease of 29)
Positivity rate: 10.2% (decrease of 0.7%)
Resolved: 404,248 (increase of 3,908), 89.4% of all cases (increase of 0.2%)
Hospitalizations: 2,336 (increase of 65)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 875 (decrease of 2)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 589 (decrease of 16)
Deaths: 7,964 (increase of 29)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 30 (increase of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,917 (increase of 3)
Total tests completed: 13,945,631 (increase of 34,000)
Tests under investigation: 29,264 (increase of 11,895)
Vaccination doses administered: 4,791,030 (increase of 94,819), 32.52% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.64%)***
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 362,563 (increase of 1,397), 2.46% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.01%)***
*While Ontario’s daily update is not yet reporting this information, Public Health Ontario confirmed on April 23 that 36 cases of the B.1.617 variant, a so-called “double mutation” variant first identified in India, have been detected in Ontario.
**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.
