Ontario COVID cases jump to 478—highest number since early May

This latest total is the highest daily number since the beginning of May. On May 2nd the province had 511 reported cases.

According to CP24,, throughout August, active infections were below 1000 for the whole month. They have, however, gone from 2157 to 3578 in one week, taking into account recoveries, of which there were 196 yesterday.

This spike is also unfortunately reflected in the number of people hospitalized, which has also nearly doubled. Ontario now has 82 people hospitalized due to the virus, with 24 of those patients receiving intensive care.

The newer trend of new infections occurring in people aged 20-39 has also slightly deepened, with almost 70% of the new cases coming from this group. Also, once again, the majority of new cases are still from Toronto, Peel Region and Ottawa, these three regions accounting for 153, 95 and 90 new cases, respectively. There were also another 27 new cases each in York Region and Waterloo.

Testing is also up significantly, which can be said to partially account for the rising rates of new cases. The province of Ontario is now up to a rhythm of 34,000 plus new tests per 24 hour period, and plans to ramp these numbers up even further in an effort to diagnose and treat potential patients earlier.

Daily deaths remain low, with three new deaths being reported today, all of them from long-term care facilities.

The Ford government has responded by limiting gatherings across the province. Now, people are only allowed to have up to 10 people inside and 25 outside. Also, things like the famous Toronto Christmas Market will be closed this year due to health concerns.

So far, in 116 of Ontario’s 4824 schools have at least one case of the coronavirus, with 51 new infections reported in the last testing period.