Ontario is reporting more than 400 new COVID-19 cases and three more deaths on Tuesday as the test positivity rate hit a high not seen in nearly two months.
The province logged 441 new infections today, down from 480 yesterday but up from 331 seven days ago.
On this date a year ago, 1,242 new cases were reported in Ontario.
Provincial health officials reported 636 new cases on Sunday, 508 on Saturday and 563 on Friday.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases hit 492 today, up from 476 yesterday and from 371 a week ago.
The head of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, Dr. Peter Jüni, says the province has re-entered a fourth wave of the pandemic after experiencing a plateau in case counts.
Infectious diseases specialist with University Health Network Dr. Susy Hota says people need to remain vigilant to contain virus spread.
“I don't know at what point we stop calling them waves because I do think we will see some waxing and waning of cases over time. And I guess our job now is to try and clinch it before things get too bad. So really be thoughtful about what we do and what contacts we have and what we can do to try and reduce the risk of it really exploding and taking off,” she told CP24 on Tuesday morning.
Among the latest cases reported today, 225 of the individuals are unvaccinated, 19 are partially vaccinated, 173 are fully vaccinated and 24 have an unknown vaccination status.
So far, 88 per cent of eligible Ontarians have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 85 per cent have received two doses and are considered fully vaccinated.
Children under 12 years old are not yet eligible for a vaccine.
Another 456 people recovered from the virus in the past 24 hours, resulting in 4,022 active cases across the province.
The three deaths reported today happened in the last month and the confirmed virus-related death toll now stands at 9,903, according to the Ministry of Health.
Ontario labs processed 19,368 tests yesterday, producing a positivity rate of 3.1 per cent, compared to 1.5 per cent a week ago, the ministry says.
Today marks the highest positivity rate in almost two months after it also hit 3.1 per cent on Sept. 13.
The public health units that recorded the most new cases today include Sudbury and Districts (61), Toronto (55), Simcoe-Muskoka (37), Ottawa (34) and York Region (30).
The ministry says there are 244 people in hospitals with the virus across the province and 134 in intensive care units.
Of those in ICUs, 78 are breathing with the help of a ventilator.
It should be noted that several ICU patients are transfers received from Saskatchewan.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says 114 of the patients in ICUs are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 20 are fully vaccinated.
There have been 604,152 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases and 590,227 recoveries in Ontario since Jan. 2020.
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.
