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Ontario is reporting a record number of new COVID-19 cases just as Toronto and Peel enter a lockdown to control the rapid spread of the virus.
The Ministry of Health says there were 1,589 new cases of the disease caused by the new coronavirus confirmed on Sunday, all of which have died of 19 more.
This is a new case record for a single 24-hour period, just beating the previous high of 1,588 reported on Saturday. It also represents a more substantial increase from the 1,487 new cases reported last Monday.
The seven-day average of new cases has risen again and now stands at 1,429. However, it is still down from this point last week when it stood at 1,443.
The latest positive cases occurred on just 37,471 tests, repeating a trend that typically sees the province report fewer results early in the week due to a drop in testing over the weekend.
The percentage of positivity in the last 24 hours was 4.6 percent. That’s the highest number since last Tuesday.
The vast majority of new cases continue to be clustered in Peel (535 cases), Toronto (336 new cases) and York (205 new cases) with these three regions accounting for more than two-thirds of all new infections.
But transmission of the virus appears to be accelerating in communities across Ontario, officials have warned.
There were 83 new cases reported in Waterloo on Monday, as the region officially moved into the red zone under Ontario’s COVID-19 framework. There were also 41 other new cases in Durham, 53 in Halton and 61 in Hamilton.
Modeling had already reported a greater number of cases
Models released earlier this month had warned that Ontario could see 2,000 to 2,500 cases per day from this point en route to 3,500 to 6,500 cases per day by mid-December, but this pace appears to have eased slightly.
There are, however, still alarming indicators that point to difficult days ahead.
There are now 156 COVID-19 patients receiving intensive care care, and some hospitals have already had to cancel some elective surgeries and procedures to accommodate the influx.
Deaths are also steadily rising after lagging behind the increase in cases for months.
Over the past seven days an average of 19 COVID patients have died each day, a slight increase from this period last week when the seven-day average was 18.
And there’s more…
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