Public Health Ontario has reported 1,745 new cases of COVID-19 today (March 19).
Today's report includes 1,296 recoveries and 10 new deaths.
The deaths reported today include four people between 40 and 59 years old, four people between 60 and 79 years old, and two people aged 80 or older. None of the deaths reported today were residents of a long-term care homes.
The province has reported 58 new hospitalizations since yesterday, and 14 new admissions of COVID-19 patients to intensive care units.
The March 19 update provided by the province's public health agency also reported the following data:
- 13,253 active cases, which is up from 12,814 yesterday
- 759 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario, up from 730 reported yesterday.
- There are 309 COVID patients in intensive care units (up from 304 yesterday) and 176 COVID patients on ventilators (down from 186 yesterday)
- The province reported 56,134 tests were processed yesterday resulting in a 3.3 per cent positivity rate.
- Another 29,545 tests are still under investigation and/or being processed. To date, 11.9 million tests have been completed.
- Of the 1,745 new cases reported today, 478 are from Toronto, 344 cases are from Peel, 174 are from York Region, and 34 are from Simcoe-Muskoka
- There are 62 active outbreaks at long-term care homes, 43 at retirement homes, and 32 at hospitals.
- The new cases reported today include 345 individuals aged 19 and under, 625 people between 20 and 39 years old, 490 people between 40 and 59 years old, 237 people between 60 and 79 years old, and 43 people aged 80 and over.
Variants of concern (Ontario-wide)
- 1,175 lab-confirmed cases of the UK variant strain of COVID-19 (B.1.1.7).
- 48 cases of B.1.351 (also known as the South African variant).
- 35 cases of P.1, which is the variant strain that originated in Brazil.
- Another 10,995 cases have screened positive with a mutation detected, but the lineage for the variant strain not yet sequenced.
- According to Public Health Ontario, there are delays between specimen collection and the testing required to confirm a variant of concern. As such, the reports can change and can differ from past case counts publicly reported.
Vaccines
- There were 61,146 doses of vaccines against COVID-19 administered on March 18, which is up from 58,119 administered on March 17.
- As of 8 p.m. on March 18, the province reported 1,420,599 doses of vaccine against COVID-19 have been administered.
- In total, 294,749 people have been fully vaccinated.
Public Health Ontario has confirmed 325,254 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and reported 304,789 recoveries and 7,212 deaths, of which 3,888 were individuals living in long-term care homes.
The cumulative average incidence rate in the province is 2,188.1 cases per 100,000 people in Ontario.
The weekly incidence rate in Ontario is 63.3 cases per 100,000 people, which is an increase of 10.3 per cent from last week (March 3 - March 9).
Yesterday, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit reported 41 new COVID cases.
There are currently 381 active, lab-confirmed cases in the region, most of which are in Simcoe County. Twenty-two people are currently hospitalized.
There have been 260 confirmed instances of the B.1.1.7 variant strain that originated in the UK, seven cases of the P.1 strain that originated in Brazil, and one case of the B.1.351 strain that originated in South Africa in cases reported in Simcoe County and Muskoka.
Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 7,114 cases of COVID-19 with 6,463 of those cases recovered and 193 cases ending in death.
The weekly incidence rate for Simcoe-Muskoka region is 43 cases per 100,000 people, which is up by 6.2 per cent compared to 40.5 cases per 100,000 people for the week of March 3 to March 9.
