Ontario reports 4,383 new COVID cases, highest single-day count since late April

Test positivity hit 10.7 per cent meaning more than 1 in 10 tests are coming back positive for COVID — the highest seen since the end of April..

Ontario is reporting 4,383 new COVID cases on Wednesday, as daily positive infections continue to rise amid the highly contagious Omicron variant. The provincial case total now stands at 661,563.

For comparison, last Wednesday saw 1,808 new cases and the previous Wednesday saw 1,009. Over the last three days, there were 3,453 new cases reported on Tuesday, 3,784 on Monday and 4,177 on Sunday.

Wednesday’s count is the highest one-day increase since April 23 when 4,505 new cases were recorded. The most number of cases ever reported in a single day throughout the pandemic in Ontario 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.

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 91 per cent of all positive cases, up from Friday when it was around 50 per cent.

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 4,383 new cases recorded, the data showed 746 were unvaccinated people, 172 were partially vaccinated people, 3,243 were fully vaccinated people and for 222 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Wednesday’s report, 1,284 cases were recorded in Toronto, 479 in York Region, 363 in Ottawa, 335 in Peel Region, 238 in Durham Region, and 223 in Halton Region. All other local public health units reported fewer than 200 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 10,133 as 10 deaths were reported.