Ontario is reporting just under 700 new COVID-19 cases today as the provincewide positivity rate hits a high not seen in nearly three months.
Provincial health officials logged 694 new COVID-19 infections today, down from 740 on Sunday but up from 639 last Monday.
The rolling seven-day average of new cases is now 696, up from 581 one week ago.
Provincial labs processed 18,561 tests over the past 24 hours, resulting in a positivity rate of 3.6, the highest that number has been since early June.
For the first time since June 11, Ontario's active caseload surpassed 6,000 today.
Of the new cases confirmed today, 121 are in Toronto, 104 are in Peel Region, 98 are in York Region, 74 are in Hamilton, and 74 are in Windsor.
No new deaths were confirmed over the past 24 hours.
The number of COVID-19 patients receiving treatment in intensive care units (ICU) is slowly continuing to rise. There are now 160 patients in the ICU with COVID-19, up from 148 last Monday, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Health.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said 167 infections reported today are in people who are fully vaccinated while 527 are in individuals who are not fully immunized or have an unknown vaccination status.
Ontario residents who are unvaccinated or have only one dose of a vaccine represent 33 per cent of the population but made up 76 per cent of all cases reported on Monday.
The vaccination status of ICU patients is not released on Sunday or Monday due to incomplete hospital data.
The province says nearly 82.9 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 76.1 per cent have two doses.
Premier Doug Ford is expected to announce details of a new provincial vaccine certificate program at some point this week, a government source confirmed to CTV News Toronto last week.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist, said vaccine passports for non-essential activities can help prevent transmission and keep businesses open as COVID-19 cases rise in the community.
“We certainly know that if we have only vaccinated people in an indoor venue, that can create a safer indoor venue. It’s not perfect. We have to remember, people who have been vaccinated can still get this infection, it is just less likely. They can still transmit the infection, it is also less likely,” he told CP24 on Monday morning.
“But certainly if we can ensure that everyone in an indoor venue like a restaurant, a movie theatre, you name it, is vaccinated, you are helping to create a safer indoor space.”
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.
