Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Ontario is reporting 2,791 new cases today — the lowest single-day increase since March 31 when 2,557 cases were reported.
Toronto and 6 other health units reporting triple-digit increases, with the seven-day average of daily cases falling by 68 to 3,509 and the number of active cases continuing to decline.
There are 2,303 more cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, 8 more cases of the B.1.351 South Africa, and 51 more cases of the P.1 Brazilian variant.
Hospitalizations have increased significantly, but more than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for the past 2 days so this increase reflects earlier underreporting. There’s been a small decrease in both the number of ICU admissions and the number of patients on ventilators.
Ontario is reporting 25 deaths today, including 9 new deaths in long-term care homes — the highest single-day increase in long-term care homes since February 20 when 11 new deaths were reported.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 32 new cases to report (including 15 in Hastings Prince Edward, 10 in Peterborough, 5 in Northumberland, and 2 in Kawartha Lakes) and an additional 32 cases resolved, with the number of active cases decreasing by 3 to 202.
Most of the new cases reported today are in Toronto (931), Peel (653), York (275), Durham (147), Hamilton (128), Ottawa (112), and Halton (101).
There are double-digit increases reported today in Niagara (89), Middlesex-London (61), Waterloo (56), Simcoe Muskoka (52), Windsor-Essex (34), Brant (25), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (25), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (19), Haldimand-Norfolk (13), and Eastern Ontario (11), with smaller increases in Southwestern (9), Northwestern (7), Sudbury (7), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (7), North Bay Parry Sound (6), and Lambton (6).
The remaining 11 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with all health units reporting at least 1 new case.
Of today’s new cases, 60% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (1,199) among people ages 20-39 followed by 778 cases among people ages 40-59 and 469 cases among people 19 and under.
With 3,323 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has increased by 0.1% to at 90.6% — the 15th straight day the percentage of resolved cases has increased. The average positivity rate across Ontario has decreased by 0.6% to 9.1%, meaning that 91 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on May 3.
Ontario is reporting 25 new COVID-19 deaths today, with 9 new deaths in long-term care homes. This is the highest single-day increase in long-term care homes since February 20 when 11 new deaths were reported. Ontario has averaged 26 new daily deaths over the past week (no change from yesterday).
The number of hospitalizations has increased by 242 to 2,167, but more than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for today’s report, so this increase reflects earlier underreporting. The number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs has decreased by 3 to 886 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators has decreased by 2 to 609.
A total of 33,740 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation rising by 9,930 to 25,049.
A total of 5,467,120 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 88,871 from yesterday, with 378,085 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 2,180 from yesterday.
The number of fully vaccinated people represents 2.57% of Ontario’s population, an increase of 0.02% from yesterday, with fully and partially vaccinated people representing 37.11% of the population, an increase of 0.60% from yesterday. An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 32 new cases to report, including 15 in Hastings Prince Edward, 10 in Peterborough, 5 in Northumberland, and 2 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no new cases in Haliburton.
There are 7 new regional cases of variants of concern, including 4 in Hastings Prince Edward, 2 in Peterborough, and 1 in Kawartha Lakes.
There is 1 new hospitalization in Hastings Prince Edward and 2 more patients on ventilators.
An additional 32 cases have been resolved, including 11 in Peterborough, 10 in Hastings Prince Edward, 6 in Northumberland, 4 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Haliburton. An outbreak at Trent Champlain Residence E/F Tower in Peterborough was declared resolved on May 1.
There are currently 202 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 3 from yesterday, including 74 in Peterborough, 72 in Hastings Prince Edward (14 in Quinte West, 42 in Belleville, 1 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 11 in Prince Edward County, 3 in Central Hastings, and 1 in North Hastings), 32 in Northumberland, 20 in Kawartha Lakes, and 4 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 1,255 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (1,167 resolved with 14 deaths), 733 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (670 resolved with 56 deaths), 827 in Northumberland County (781 resolved with 14 deaths), 105 in Haliburton County (100 resolved with 1 death), and 958 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (877 resolved with 9 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Peterborough on April 28.
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: 1,255 (increase of 10)
Total variants of concern cases: 467 (increase of 2)
Active cases: 74 (decrease of 1)
Close contacts: 213 (increase of 20)
Deaths: 14 (no change)
Resolved: 1,167 (increase of 11)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 53 (no change)*
ICU admissions (total to date): 8 (no change)
Total tests completed: Over 50,250 (increase of 50)
Outbreaks: Empress Gardens retirement home in Peterborough, Unidentified congregate living facility #3 in Peterborough, Unidentified workplace #5 in Peterborough, Unidentified workplace #7 in Peterborough, Unidentified workplace #8 in Peterborough, Sunshine Daycare in Peterborough, Unidentified child care centre #1 in Peterborough County (decrease of 1)**
Vaccine doses administered: 56,409 (increase of 12,806 as of April 29)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 4,211 (increase of 1,730 as of April 29)
*As of May 4, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting 17 patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 (increase of 1) and a total of 67 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (increase of 5).
**An outbreak at Trent Champlain Residence E/F Tower in Peterborough was declared resolved on May 1.
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: 1,665, including 733 in Kawartha Lakes, 827 in Northumberland, and 105 in Haliburton (increase of 7, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 5 in Northumberland)*
Total variants of concern cases: 401, including 137 in Kawartha Lakes, 243 in Northumberland, and 21 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)
Active cases: 56, including 20 in Kawartha Lakes, 32 in Northumberland, and 4 in Haliburton (decrease of 6, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes, 2 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Probable cases: 2, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland (decrease of 2, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 60, including 33 in Kawartha Lakes, 24 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 (no change)
Resolved: 1,551, including 670 in Kawartha Lakes, 781 in Northumberland, and 100 in Haliburton (increase of 11, including 4 in Kawartha Lakes, 6 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 182,153 (increase of 734)
Vaccine doses administered: 72,365 (increase of 7,412 as of May 3)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 4,271 (increase of 723 as of May 3)
Outbreaks: Transition House shelter in Cobourg (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.
**As of May 4, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 8 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (decrease of 2).
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: 958 (increase of 15)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 334 (increase of 4)
Active cases: 72 (increase of 4)
Deaths: 9 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 18 (increase of 1)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 7 (decrease of 2)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 6 (increase of 2)
Resolved: 877 (increase of 10)
Tests completed: 132,208 (increase of 72)
Vaccine doses administered: 61,636 (increase of 736)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 4,098 (increase of 45)
Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Prince Edward County, Unidentified workplace in Belleville, QHC Belleville General Hospital, Unidentified workplace in Belleville, Unidentified congregate living facility in Belleville, Unidentified child care facility in Quinte West (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 476,692 (increase of 2,791)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) cases: 77,649 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 2,303); 309 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 8); 971 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 51)*
VOC R(t): 0.89 (decrease of 0.04 as April 27)**
7-day average of daily new cases: 3,509 (decrease of 68)
Positivity rate: 9.1% (increase of 0.6%)
Resolved: 432,109 (increase of 3,323), 90.6% of all cases (increase of 0.1%)
Hospitalizations: 2,167 (increase of 242)***
Hospitalizations in ICU: 886 (decrease of 3)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 609 (decrease of 2)
Deaths: 8,143 (increase of 25)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 26 (no change)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,928 (increase of 9)
Total tests completed: 14,264,861 (increase of 33,740)
Tests under investigation: 25,049 (increase of 9,930)
Vaccination doses administered: 5,467,120 (increase of 88,871), 37.11% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.60%)****
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 378,085 (increase of 2,180), 2.57% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.02%)****
*While Ontario’s daily update still 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.
***More than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for the past 2 days, so this increase reflects earlier underreporting.
****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.
