Ontario is reporting its lowest number of new COVID-19 cases in more than a week but the decline in infections appears to have slowed down and the rolling seven-day average has been mostly unchanged for several days now.
The Ministry of Health says that there were 127 new instances of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus confirmed on Monday, down from 130 one day prior.
There were also another two deaths in people who had contracted COVID-19 after zero deaths were reported on Monday.
The rolling-seven day average of new cases now stands at 152. While that is down from 170 at this time last week, it is roughly equal to the seven-day averages that the province has recorded over the last five days (155, 151, 151, 153 and 155).
The apparent stall in the decline of new cases comes as the federal government unveils plans to allow fully vaccinated U.S. citizens to enter Canada without a 14-day quarantine as of Aug. 9. It will then allow travellers from elsewhere in the world to do the same as of Sept. 9.
“In general it does sound like a very reasonable plan,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CP24 on Tuesday morning ahead of the release of the latest numbers. “We are not living in a zero risk world with COVID and especially with COVID on the rise but I think it is fair to say that if you allow fully vaccinated people into the country you are doing something right. You still have to have a negative test before you arrive in Canada and you have to show proof of your vaccine.”
Of the new cases reported on Tuesday, 34 were in Toronto, 14 were in York Region, 10 were in Peel and Halton regions, eight were in Hamilton and two were in Durham Region.
The 127 new cases come on more than 13,000 tests, pointing to a positivity rate of 0.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care wards continues to slowly decline. As of Monday there were only 149 COVID patients in the ICU, down from 192 at this time last week.
Officials have previously said that once the number of people in the ICU crosses 150 there is a risk of elective surgeries and procedures being cancelled in some hard-hit hospitals so dipping below that line is significant.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 548,474 lab-confirmed cases and 9,296 deaths in Ontario.
The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.
