The number of active cases of COVID-19 tied to Ontario public schools fell to its lowest point in nearly six weeks on Thursday.
The Ministry of Education reported 80 new cases on Thursday, the lowest single-day tally in nearly two weeks.
Of those cases, 75 involved students, four involved staff and the association of one case was not disclosed.
More than 500 of Ontario’s 4,844 publicly funded schools have at least one active case of COVID-19 and two are closed.
One of the schools closed is located in Azilda, Ont.
There are now 984 known active cases of COVID-19 tied to school students and staff in Ontario, down from a peak of 1,637 on Oct. 1.
There are also 138 known active cases associated with provincial childcare facilities.
Schools and childcare centres continue to be linked to 37 per cent of all active cases remaining in the province.
School boards of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area reported 532 active cases on Thursday, an increase of five from Wednesday and 13 from the start of the week.
School board data indicates more than one in every six remaining active cases of COVID-19 in all of Ontario involves a GTHA student or education worker.
At least 123 class cohorts are self-isolating at home due to COVID-19 exposure on Thursday, but major boards including the Toronto District School Board and Toronto Catholic District School Board do not disclose the number of classes they have dismissed.
At this point last year, public schools were linked to 1,966 cases since the start of the school year. This year, they are so far tied to 4,454.
The increased transmissibility of the Delta coronavirus variant is to blame; with experts repeatedly finding it is as infectious as the chicken pox.
