Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
After 2 straight days of cases under 2,000, Ontario is reporting 2,400 new cases today, with 5 of Ontario’s 34 health units reporting triple-digit case increases. The seven-day average of daily cases has decreased to 2,131 and the proportion of active cases has fallen for the 31st straight day.
Hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and patients on ventilators continue to decline. Ontario is reporting 27 new deaths, including 1 in a long-term care home. A record number of 16,975 Ontarians have received their second dose of vaccine.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 31 new cases to report (including 19 in Kawartha Lakes, 5 in Peterborough, 4 in Hastings Prince Edward, and 3 in Northumberland) with an additional 23 cases resolved. There have been 2 new COVID-related deaths in the region, the 17th death in Northumberland and the 11th death in Hastings Prince Edward.
The net number of active cases across the region has risen by 6 to 260, with a large increase in active cases in Kawartha Lakes and an equally large decrease in Peterborough. See below for details for each health unit in the region.
Most of the new cases reported today are in Toronto (607), Peel (528), Hamilton (224), York (181), and Durham (110).
There are double-digit increases reported today in Ottawa (92), Middlesex-London (89), Waterloo (78), Simcoe Muskoka (70), Halton (69), Niagara (68), Windsor-Essex (55), Porcupine (35), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (29), Peterborough (19), Eastern Ontario (18), Brant (17), Lambton (15), Grey Bruce (14), Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (11), and Southwestern (11), with smaller increases in Haldimand-Norfolk (9), Algoma (8), Thunder Bay (7), Hastings Prince Edward (7), and Huron Perth (6).
The remaining 9 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with all health units reporting at least 1 case.
Of today’s new cases, 62% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (981) among people ages 20-39 followed by 628 cases among people ages 40-59 and 494 cases among people 19 and under.
With 2,763 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has increased by 0.1% to at 93.9% — the 31st straight day the percentage of resolved cases has increased. The average positivity rate across Ontario remains unchanged at 5.2%, meaning that 52 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on May 19.
Ontario is reporting 27 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 1 new death in a long-term care home. Ontario has averaged 21 new daily deaths over the past week, a decrease of 1 from yesterday.
Hospitalizations have decreased by 81 to 1,320, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs declining by 14 to 721 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators falling by 46 to 493.
A total of 45,406 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 5,449 to 20,642.
A total of 7,576,624 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 144,986 from yesterday, and 473,759 people have been fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, a record increase of 16,975 from yesterday.
The number of fully vaccinated people represents 3.22% of Ontario’s population, an increase of 0.12% from yesterday, with fully and partially vaccinated people representing 51.43% of the total population, an increase of 0.98% from yesterday. An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 31 new cases to report, including 19 in Kawartha Lakes, 5 in Peterborough, 4 in Hastings Prince Edward, and 3 in Northumberland. There are no new cases in Haliburton.
There are 2 new COVID-19 deaths in the region, including 1 in Northumberland (the county’s 17th death) and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward (the region’s 11th death). There is 1 new ICU admission in Peterborough and 1 new patient on a ventilator in Hastings Prince Edward.
There are 31 new regional cases of variants of concern, including 15 in Peterborough, 10 in Kawartha Lakes, 5 in Hastings Prince Edward, and 1 in Northumberland.
An additional 23 cases have been resolved, including 17 in Peterborough, 3 in Kawartha Lakes, 2 in Haliburton, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward. An outbreak at Staples and Swain Law Office in Lindsay has been declared resolved.
There are currently 260 in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 6 from yesterday, including 109 in Peterborough, 56 in Hastings Prince Edward (13 in Quinte West, 17 in Belleville, 2 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 4 in Prince Edward County, 17 in Central Hastings, and 3 in North Hastings), 59 in Kawartha Lakes, 31 in Northumberland, and 5 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 1,428 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (1,301 resolved with 18 deaths), 858 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (756 resolved with 56 deaths), 888 in Northumberland County (840 resolved with 17 deaths), 118 in Haliburton County (112 resolved with 1 death), and 1,085 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (1,018 resolved with 11 deaths). The two most recent deaths were reported in Northumberland and Hastings Prince Edward on May 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: 1,428 (increase of 5)
Total variants of concern cases: 620 (increase of 15)
Active cases: 109 (decrease of 12)
Close contacts: 374 (increase of 1)
Deaths: 18 (no change)
Resolved: 1,301 (increase of 17)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 63 (no change)*
ICU admissions (total to date): 14 (increase of 1)
Total tests completed: Over 51,700 (increase of 100)
Total vaccine doses administered (residents and non-residents): 69,989 (increase of 3,944 as of May 20)
Number of residents who have received first dose: 64,199 (increase of 3,675 as of May 20)
Number of residents fully vaccinated: 4,852 (increase of 277 as of May 20)
Outbreaks: Unidentified congregate living facility #3 in the City of Peterborough, Helping Hands Day Care in Peterborough County, Unidentified workplace #9 in Peterborough County, Unidentified workplace #10 in Peterborough County, Peterborough Day Care Centre in the City of Peterborough (no change)
*As of May 20, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting 7 patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 (decrease of 1) and a total of 75 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: 1,864, including 858 in Kawartha Lakes, 888 in Northumberland, and 118 in Haliburton (increase of 22, including 19 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Northumberland)*
Total variants of concern cases: 556, including 232 in Kawartha Lakes, 291 in Northumberland, and 33 in Haliburton (increase of 11, including 10 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland)
Active cases: 95, including 59 in Kawartha Lakes, 31 in Northumberland, and 5 in Haliburton (net increase of 16)
Probable cases: None (no change)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 70, including 36 in Kawartha Lakes, 31 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (no change)**
Deaths (including among probable cases): 74, including 56 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Northumberland)
Resolved: 1,708, including 756 in Kawartha Lakes, 840 in Northumberland, and 112 in Haliburton (increase of 5, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Haliburton)
Tests completed: 189,848 (increase of 433)
Vaccine doses administered to residents: 85,785 (increase of 6,353 as of May 17)
Number of residents fully vaccinated: 4,877 (increase of 415 as of May 17)
Outbreaks: OPP Offender Transport Lindsay, Dairy Queen in Lindsay, Unit 5 and kitchen at Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Campbellford Farm Supply LTD (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.
**As of May 20, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 4 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change).
***An outbreak at Staples and Swain Law Office in Lindsay has been declared 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: 1,085 (increase of 4)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 445 (increase of 5)
Active cases: 56 (increase of 2)
Deaths: 11 (increase of 1)
Currently hospitalized: 15 (decrease of 1)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 6 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 6 (increase of 1)
Resolved: 1,018 (increase of 1)
Tests completed: 139,871 (increase of 6)
Vaccine doses administered: 79,553 (increase of 1,629)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 6,310 (increase of 85)
Outbreaks: Quinte 5 at QHC Belleville General Hospital, Unidentified child care facility in Belleville, Unidentified workplace in Belleville, Unidentified workplace in Central Hastings, Community outbreak in Hastings Highlands in North Hastings (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 517,090 (increase of 2,400)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) cases: 114,569 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 1,810); 684 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 1); 2,089 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 30)
VOC R(t): 0.84 (decrease of 0.03 as May 14)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 2,131 (decrease of 52)
Positivity rate: 5.2% (no change)
Resolved: 485,512 (increase of 2,763), 93.9% of all cases (increase of 0.1%)
Hospitalizations: 1,320 (decrease of 81)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 721 (decrease of 14)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 493 (decrease of 46)
Deaths: 8,552 (increase of 27)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 21 (decrease of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,944 (increase of 1)
Total tests completed: 14,901,787 (increase of 45,406)
Tests under investigation: 20,642 (decrease of 5,449)
Vaccination doses administered: 7,576,624 (increase of 144,986), 51.43% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.98%)**
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 473,759 (increase of 16,975), 3.22% of Ontario’s population (increase of 0.12%)**
*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.
