Ontario reported nearly 2,300 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, in part due to timing changes in how numbers are gathered, shattering all previous records for case growth in a day.
But Tuesday’s data also revealed troubling increases in hospitalizations, test positivity and hospitalizations due to COVID-19.
Twenty more Ontarians died of novel coronavirus infection, brining the total dead since March to 3,992.
The count from Tuesday eclipses Ontario’s previous record of 1,983 cases, set five days ago.
The province reported 1,940 cases on Monday, 1,677 on Sunday, and 1,873 new cases on Saturday.
“Locally, there are 711 new cases in Toronto, 586 in Peel, 185 in Windsor-Essex County and 154 in York Region,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said on Twitter.
The Ministry of Health said Tuesday’s total is also higher because they changed the cut-off time for when local public health units can submit data to the province, meaning Tuesday’s count allowed 2.5 more hours for data to be submitted than earlier days.
There are now more than 17,000 active cases of infection across the province, the highest that number has ever been, and 123,000 people have recovered.
Test positivity reached 5.4 per cent, with 39,500 tests completed and another 45,770 specimens under investigation.
The number of people hospitalized in the province hit 921 today, up from less than 800 one week ago, with 249 patients in intensive care and 156 breathing with the help of a ventilator.
While the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine continues to be distributed to small groups of healthcare workers in Toronto and Ottawa, infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CP24 the burden Ontario’s existing active caseload is placing on GTA hospitals is zapping some of his enthusiasm about the vaccine.
“When we’re sustaining that burden of new cases per day, we know that a small but real percentage of them are going to need healthcare, and a small but real percentage of them are going to be admitted to hospital, and a small percentage of them are going to land in intensive care and sadly some of these individuals are going to die.”
“It’s not a good place. We are watching healthcare systems primarily in and around the Toronto area get stretched beyond capacity.”
