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Ontario on Thursday reported 998 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 13 new deaths.
The new figures, which include reported cases to Wednesday afternoon, bring the overall totals to 80,690 cases and 3,195 deaths in Ontario since the pandemic began.
Toronto and Peel remain the provincial hotspots, with 350 and 269 new confirmed cases, respectively, or 82 per cent of the province’s total.
Additionally, there are 381 people hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, with 86 in intensive care and 48 on ventilators.
Overall, 948 cases were resolved in the 24-hour period ending Wednesday afternoon, bringing the provincial total to 69,137.
The Eastern Ontario Health Unit reported 23 new cases, for a total of 660, while Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s two new confirmed cases brought their total to 81.
Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Public Health, Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, and Renfrew County and District Health Unit all reported no new cases.
Meanwhile, Quebec native Renato Battisti, chief cook aboard the asphalt-bitumen-chemical tanker Damia Desgagnés, has died in a Sarnia hospital after contracting the virus at sea.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the tragic passing of Chief Cook Renato Battisti after a battle of COVID-19,” posted The Seafarers International Union of Canada, of which Battisti was a member, on its Facebook page on Tuesday.
Battisti worked for Quebec-based shipping firm Groupe Desgagnés.












