Ontario reports 3,784 new COVID cases, no new deaths

Test positivity hit 9.7 per cent — the highest seen since early May. Last week, test positivity was at 5.5 per cent.

Ontario is reporting 3,784 new COVID cases on Monday, as daily positive infections continue to rise amid the highly contagious Omicron variant. The provincial case total now stands at 653,727.

For comparison, last Monday saw 1,536 new cases and the previous Monday saw 887. Over the last three days, there were 4,177 new cases reported Sunday, 3,301 on Saturday, and 3,124 on Friday.

The Ontario COVID-19 Science Table, a panel of doctors who advise the provincial government, noted on their dashboard that Omicron now accounts for at least 83 per cent of all positive cases, up from Friday when it was around 50 per cent.

The most number of cases ever reported in a single day throughout the pandemic was on April 16 when there were 4,812 new cases amid the third wave when the province was under a strict lockdown that included a stay-at-home order and when a large portion of the population was still unvaccinated.

However, as infections soar, patients with COVID in ICUs (intensive care units) have remained relatively stable but are overall on a slow rise. Experts have said it could take up to two weeks or more following a surge in new cases to see a sharper rise in hospitalizations/ICUs.

Of the 3,784 new cases recorded, the data showed 746 were unvaccinated people, 119 were partially vaccinated people, 2,781 were fully vaccinated people and for 138 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Monday’s report, 1,056 cases were recorded in Toronto, 381 in Peel Region, 310 for York Region, 273 in Ottawa, 240 in Halton and 181 in Hamilton. All other local public health units reported fewer than 150 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has remained at 10,113 as no new deaths were reported.