Public Health Ontario has reported 975 new cases of COVID-19 today (Feb. 23).
Today's report includes 12 new deaths, one was a resident at a long-term care home.
Of the deaths reported today, six were individuals were between 60 and 79 years old, and six were over the age of 80.
The province has reported 43 new hospitalizations since yesterday, and 11 new admissions of COVID-19 patients to intensive care units.
The Feb. 23 update provided by the province's public health agency also reported the following data:
- 1,002 new recoveries
- 10,296 active cases, which is down from 10,335 yesterday
- 718 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario, up from 646 reported yesterday.
- There are 283 COVID patients in intensive care units (up from 280) and 186 COVID patients on ventilators (down from 189 yesterday).
- The province reported 25,979 tests were processed yesterday resulting in a 4.2 per cent positivity rate.
- Another 28,802 tests are still under investigation and/or being processed. To date, 10.7 million tests have been completed.
- Of the 975 new cases reported today, 343 are from Toronto, 186 cases are from Peel, 89 are from York Region, and 48 are from Simcoe-Muskoka
- There are 121 active outbreaks at long-term care homes, 69 at retirement homes and 38 at hospitals.
- Of the cases reported today there are 160 people under 19 years old, 365 people between 20 and 39 years old, 278 people between 40 and 59 years old, 153 people between 60 and 79 years old, and 18 people over the age of 80.
Variants of concern
- The province has reported 390 lab-confirmed cases of the UK variant strain of COVID-19 (B.1.1.7).
- The province has reported 9 cases of B.1.351 (also known as the South African variant).
- The province has reported 1 case of P.1, which is the variant strain that originated in Brazil.
- 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.
Vaccine update for Feb. 23:
- There were 16,252 doses of vaccines against COVID-19 administered on Feb 22, which is up from 12,922 administered on Feb. 20.
- As of 8 p.m. on Feb. 22, the province reported 585,707 doses of vaccine against COVID-19 have been administered.
- In total, 247,042 people have been fully vaccinated, having received two doses of vaccine.
Public Health Ontario has confirmed 295,119 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and reported 277,939 recoveries and 6,884 deaths, of which 3,858 were individuals living in long-term care homes.
The cumulative average incidence rate in the province is 1,985.4 cases per 100,000 people in Ontario.
The weekly incidence rate in Ontario is 48.6 cases per 100,000 people from Feb. 13 to Feb. 19, which is a decrease of 7.6 per cent compared to Feb. 7 to Feb. 13 when the average weekly incidence rate was 52.6 cases per 100,000 people.
On Friday, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit reported 144 new cases of COVID-19 in the region. The health unit is scheduled to provide an update on local cases today, including those reported since Friday.
Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 6,242 cases of COVID-19 with 5,457 of those cases recovered and 186 cases ending in death. There are 556 active, lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the region, with the majority of those in Simcoe County.
According to the health unit, 171 local cases have tested positive for the B.1.1.7 variant strain that orginated in the UK, and an additional 187 cases have screened positive (awaiting confirmatory testing).
The weekly incidence rate for Simcoe Muskoka is about 40 cases per 100,000 people, which is up by 15 per cent from 35 cases per 100,000 a week ago.
For the latest breakdown of cases in the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, click here.
