Ontario reports 345 new COVID-19 cases, 20% adults fully vaccinated

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Ontario is reporting 345 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, as the province reaches 20 per cent of adults who are fully immunized as well as another new daily milestone for the most shots administered in 24 hours. The provincial case total now stands at 541,525.

Friday’s case count is the fifth straight day cases are below 500. On Thursday, there were 370 new cases with 384 on Wednesday and 293 on Tuesday.

According to Friday’s report, 85 cases were recorded in Waterloo Region, 50 in Toronto, 50 in Peel Region, 29 in Hamilton and 22 in York Region. Waterloo Region surpassed Toronto and Peel for the most cases within the count for the second time this week.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 20 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 8,994 as one more death was recorded. It is the fewest number of daily deaths since Oct. 14 when zero deaths were reported.

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As of 8 p.m. on Thursday, more than 12.1 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered. That marked another record increase of 210,638 vaccines (34,432 for a first shot and 176,206 for a second shot) in the last day.

There are more than 2.5 million people fully vaccinated with two doses which is 20.96 per cent of the adult population. This is the percentage needed to move into Step 2 of Ontario’s reopening plan.

Meanwhile, 528,421 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 624 from the previous day.

There were more resolved cases than new cases on Friday.

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Active cases in Ontario now stand at 4,110 — down from the previous day when it was at 4,390, and is down from June 11 when it was at 6,184. At the peak of the second wave coronavirus surge in January, active cases hit just above 30,000. In the third wave in April, active cases topped 43,000.

The seven-day average has now reached 411, which is down from yesterday at 443, and is down from last week at 568. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 2,100.

The government said 26,643 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 11,236 tests awaiting results. A total of 15,676,015 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity for Friday was 1.4 per cent. That figure is up slightly from Thursday’s at 1.3 per cent and is down from last week when it was at 2 per cent.

Ontario reported 378 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by 19 from the previous day) with 352 patients in intensive care units (down by 10) and 221 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by 11). Overall, hospitalizations have been on the decline since the third wave peak in April.

— More to come.

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