![Ontario reaches 10,000 COVID-related deaths since start of pandemic](https://globalnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CP133571823.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=720&h=379&crop=1)
Ontario reaches 10,000 COVID-related deaths since start of pandemic
Global News
Ontario is reporting three new COVID-19 related deaths as the total number of fatalities has hit the grim milestone of 10,000 since the start of the pandemic.
Ontario is reporting three new COVID-19 related deaths Tuesday as the number of fatalities in the province hit the grim milestone of 10,000 since the start of the pandemic.
In a 20-month global pandemic that was formally declared by the World Health Organization in March 2020, the province recorded its first virus-related death on March 17, 2020 — a 77-year-old man from Barrie, Ont.
Then, the first 1,000 deaths were recorded within the next six weeks by April 30, 2020. Ontario reached 5,000 deaths amid the second wave on Jan. 11, as another thousand deaths were recorded just two and a half weeks later.
Ontario hit just over 9,000 deaths on June 19 as it emerged from a devastating third wave while more people were getting vaccinated as supply ramped up.
It took another five months to record the most recent 1,000 deaths to reach the 10,000-death toll mark.
Ontario has the second-highest death toll in Canada, behind Quebec which has recorded more than 11,500 deaths attributed to COVID so far.
Meanwhile, 687 new COVID-19 cases were also reported on Tuesday. The provincial case total now stands at 618,490.
For comparison, last Tuesday saw 613 new cases and the previous Tuesday saw 481. All three Tuesdays saw similar testing volumes in the 20,000 range.