TORONTO – The Covid “swing” does not stop: after more than 500 infections every 24 hours in the last few days, Ontario recorded “only” 348 new cases of coronavirus today, with a significant decrease compared to 526 on Monday and 511 on Sunday . It is Ontario’s first day of sub-500 cases since August 11, when 324 new cases were detected. But there are ten deaths (zero on Monday), even if six were revealed through an ongoing review of deaths during the pandemic. 

Today’s tally brought the seven-day average to 473, up from 469 yesterday. Unvaccinated people report about 67% of the total new cases detected, despite accounting for only 28.5% of the Ontario population. But, as we wrote yesterday, the fact remains that even those who are “immunized” can contract Covid-19: among the cases of today, partially vaccinated people are 11% and fully vaccinated people 22%.

17,408 tests processed (against 15,784 the day before yesterday), with a positive rate of 2.6%.

Going into detail on the distribution of new cases across the GTA, Toronto reported 85 new cases, Peel 45, the York region 32  and Durham 19. The Halton region reported 21 new cases, Hamilton 34. As for the variants, here is the situation in Ontario today: “Alpha” (English variant) 145,694 cases, an increase of 2 compared to Monday; “Beta” (South African variant) 1,493 cases, number unchanged from Monday; “Gamma” (Brazilian variant) 5,183 cases, an increase of 5 compared to Monday; “Delta” (Indian variant) 6,539 cases, up 294 from Monday.

On the vaccine front, the province says it administered just over 40,000 doses of the vaccine on Monday, including 11,267 first doses. The Ministry of Health also reports that in the whole province there are 127 patients in intensive care (of these, 78 breathe with the help of a ventilator): 17% more than a week ago, when they were 109. Only one of those ICU patients is fully vaccinated. In total, 160 people hospitalized due to Covid-19 throughout the province are hospitalized.

Quebec reported today 323 new infections and no additional deaths. The type of infected is very similar to that of Ontario: 67% of new cases are related to people who are not yet vaccinated or who received the first dose less than two weeks ago, 17% are among those who have received a first vaccination two weeks ago or earlier, while 16% of new cases are among those who are fully vaccinated. The number of hospitalizations has increased by six to 88: of these patients, 27 are in intensive care (same number on Monday).

The vaccination campaign in Quebec, meanwhile, has seen another 43,831 doses administered since the last update, with the total inoculated vaccines reaching more than 11.8 million doses. The Ministry of Health says 74% of Quebecers aged 12 and over are fully vaccinated. “We are on the verge of reaching our minimum target,” the minister Christian Dubé said on Twitter. “We must continue to rapidly distribute second doses to overcome this target.” The province’s case count has reached a total of 382,319, while in Ontario the number is higher: 556.435.  Since the start of the pandemic, the total number of cases in Canada is 1.456.680 (number updated at 2 pm today).

Photo by Mat Napo on Unsplash