Ontario reported nearly 800 new COVID-19 cases on Friday and three new deaths; the highest count seen since shortly after the province exited its stay-at-home order in early June.
Provincial labs detected 781 cases, and public health units reported 17 deaths, 14 of which are from the height of the third wave several months ago, a spokesperson for Health Minister Christine Elliott told CP24.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases now stands at 665, up from 646 yesterday and 518 one week ago.
Ontario reported 678 new cases on Thursday and 660 on Wednesday.
Elliott said that of the 781 new cases, 634 involved people who were unvaccinated or had only one dose, while 147 involved fully vaccinated people.
Unvaccinated and partially vaccinated people make up 34 per cent of Ontario’s population but 81 per cent of Friday’s cases.
The latest, continuously updated Ontario data indicates vaccination is associated with massive relative risk reductions in COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and possible ICU admission.
Across the GTA, Toronto reported 185 new cases, the highest daily tally the city has seen since June 4, while Peel reported 96 new cases.
Durham Region reported 40 new cases, York reported 93 new cases, Halton reported 15 cases and Hamilton reported 66 new cases.
The province last reported numbers this high on June 4, two days after the stay-at-home order ended, when 914 cases were detected.
One of the three deaths reported Friday involved a resident of the long-term care system.
There have now been a total of 9,489 confirmed deaths in the province due to COVID-19 since March 2020, with 547,823 recoveries and 5,444 known active cases remaining.
Provincial labs processed more than 30,000 specimens in the previous period, generating a positivity rate after accounting for duplicate and inconclusive tests of three per cent.
The province’s overall hospital occupancy due to COVID-19 reached 306 patients, with 158 in intensive care.
Just 16 days ago, only 100 people were in hospital due to COVID-19 across the province.
The province administered 36,195 new COVID-19 vaccine doses on Thursday, including 12,934 first doses and 23,261 second doses.
Eighty-three per cent of people aged 12 and up have one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 76 per cent have received two doses.
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.
