More than 70 per cent of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario reported since Jan. 15 have now recovered.
And though daily recoveries are sometimes surpassing daily cases, new cases continue to be added to the provincial total at a rate of about two per cent per day.
Today, Public Health Ontario is reporting 399 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 347 recoveries. The provincial agency has also reported 48 more deaths linked to the coronavirus.
The victims reported today include one person between the ages of 40-59, 12 people between the ages of 60 and 79, and 35 people aged 80 or over.
There are currently 1,033 people hospitalized with COVID-19, and of those 220 patients are in intensive care units and 155 are on ventilators.
Ontario has reported 19,121 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and of those 13,569 people have recovered (71 per cent) and 1,477 people have died (7.7 per cent).
There were 15,179 tests completed on Tuesday according to today’s update, and there are another 13,012 tests awaiting results. There have been 380,854 tests processed in Ontario.
The Ministry of Long-Term care has confirmed 1,111 deaths of residents in long-term care homes, but of those, 681 are included in the total number of deaths reported by the province.
The ministry reports there are 174 long-term care facility outbreaks, 2,831 confirmed cases in residents, and 1,671 cases in staff.
About 16 per cent (3,131 people) of Ontario’s COVID-19 cases are health care workers. Whether they contracted the virus at work or in another way is not reported.
Public Health Ontario reports there have been 225 long-term care home outbreaks, 83 retirement home outbreaks, and 69 hospital outbreaks. Those totals are cumulative and do not reflect outbreaks since declared over.
Premier Doug Ford announced he spoke with cottage country mayors yesterday about the potential for seasonal homeowners travelling to their cottages this May long-weekend.
“We are still battling a terrible virus, so we are asking seasonal residents travelling to their cottages to practice the same public health measures as usual, including no public gatherings, avoiding non-essential travel as much as possible, and continue to practice social distancing,” said Ford in a statement. “Cottage country residents are known for their hospitality and normally they would be welcoming tourists with open arms right now. This year, however, they are asking visitors to help them fight the spread of COVID-19 and hold-off travelling to these regions until it is safe to do so.”
Ford noted there will be “plenty of long weekends to come.”
There have now been 344 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the Simcoe-Muskoka region, including 175 recoveries and 24 deaths. There are seven people hospitalized.
The breakdown of cases in each municipality is as follows:
Barrie (114 cases, 54 recoveries, 7 deaths, 1 in hospital), Bradford West Gwillimbury (78 cases, 29 recoveries, 9 deaths, 3 in hospital), New Tecumseth (22 cases, 16 recoveries, 1 in hospital), Orillia (16 cases, 10 recoveries, 2 deaths), Collingwood (11 cases, 7 recoveries), Innisfil (27 cases, 12 recoveries), Springwater (6 cases, 4 recoveries, 1 death), Midland (6 cases, 5 recoveries), Wasaga Beach (11 cases, 5 recoveries, 1 death), Oro-Medonte (5 cases, 2 recoveries, 2 deaths, 1 in hospital), Adjala-Tosorontio (7 cases, 5 recoveries), Clearview (6 cases, 2 recoveries, 1 in hospital), Essa (6 cases, 3 recoveries, 1 death), Ramara (3 cases, 2 recoveries), Tiny (2 cases, all recovered), Tay (2 cases), Penetanguishene (2 cases, all recovered), and Severn (3 cases) for a total of 326 cases in Simcoe County, including 160 recoveries.
There are also 18 confirmed positive cases in Muskoka, and 15 have recovered, one person from Muskoka Lakes has died.
The case rate (including lab-confirmed cases only) for Simcoe-Muskoka region is 57.7 cases per 100,000 population. The provincial average is 128.6 cases per 100,000 population.
