Ontario is reporting 4,383 new COVID cases on Wednesday, as daily positive infections continue to rise amid the highly contagious Omicron variant. The provincial case total now stands at 661,563.For comparison, last Wednesday saw 1,808 new cases and the previous Wednesday saw 1,009. Over the last three days, there were 3,453 new cases reported on Tuesday, 3,784 on Monday and 4,177 on Sunday.Wednesday’s count is the highest one-day increase since April 23 when 4,505 new cases were recorded. The most number of cases ever reported in a single day throughout the pandemic in Ontario was on April 16 when there were 4,812 new cases amid the third wave when the province was under a strict lockdown that included a stay-at-home order and when a large portion of the population was still unvaccinated.The Ontario COVID-19 Science Table, a panel of doctors who advise the provincial government, noted on their dashboard that Omicron now accounts for at least 91 per cent of all positive cases, up from Friday when it was around 50 per cent. Story continues below advertisement However, as infections soar, patients with COVID in ICUs (intensive care units) have remained relatively stable but are overall on a slow rise. Experts have said it could take up to two weeks or more following a surge in new cases to see a sharper rise in hospitalizations/ICUs.Of the 4,383 new cases recorded, the data showed 746 were unvaccinated people, 172 were partially vaccinated people, 3,243 were fully vaccinated people and for 222 people the vaccination status was unknown.According to Wednesday’s report, 1,284 cases were recorded in Toronto, 479 in York Region, 363 in Ottawa, 335 in Peel Region, 238 in Durham Region, and 223 in Halton Region. All other local public health units reported fewer than 200 new cases in the provincial report. Story continues below advertisement Deaths, vaccinations, recoveries, testing, 7-day average in OntarioThe death toll in the province has risen to 10,133 as 10 deaths were reported.As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, there are more than 11.3 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 87.9 per cent of the aged 12 and older population. First dose coverage stands at 90.5 per cent. There are more than 2.3 million Ontarians who have received a booster shot. Trending Stories For young children aged five to 11, first dose coverage stands at 39.2 per cent — 423,365 doses out of just over 1 million eligible children.Meanwhile, 623,142 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is 95 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 1,787 from the previous day.Active cases in Ontario now stand at 28,288 — up from the previous day when it was at 25,702, and is up from Dec. 15 when it was at 12,666. At the peak of the second wave coronavirus surge in January, active cases hit just above 30,000. In the third wave in April, active cases topped 43,000.The seven-day average has now reached 3,520, a months-long high since early May as Ontario emerged from a devastating third wave. This is up from the week prior when it was 1,514. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 650. Story continues below advertisement The government said 55,381 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 58,038 tests currently under investigation.Test positivity hit 10.7 per cent meaning more than 1 in 10 tests are coming back positive for COVID — the highest seen since the end of April. Last week, test positivity was at 6 per cent.Hospitalizations in OntarioOntario reported 420 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (up by 8 from the previous day) with 168 patients in intensive care units (up by three) and 108 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator (up by three).Ontario Health officials have recently said intensive care occupancy can hit between 250 or 300 patients with COVID before the health care system would be impacted and require ramping down some non-urgent surgeries and procedures.In the third wave peak, which was the worst wave for hospitalizations, the province saw as many as 900 patients in ICUs with COVID and almost 2,400 in general hospital wards.For those in general hospital wards with COVID, 137 were unvaccinated, 13 were partially vaccinated and 109 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 83 were unvaccinated while 3 were partially vaccinated and 36 were fully vaccinated. Story continues below advertisement Provincial officials noted this new dataset with vaccination status for hospitalizations will grow and improve over time as more information is collected. There may also be a discrepancy due to how and when the information for both is collected.More to come. © 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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