Ontario reported over 500 new COVID-19 cases for a second day in a row as the province expanded eligibility for booster shoots on Saturday.
Provincial health officials logged 508 new coronavirus infections today, down from 563 yesterday but up from 356 a week ago.
On this date last year, the province reported 1,003 new cases.
Earlier this week, officials reported 331 new infections on Tuesday, 378 on Wednesday and 438 on Thursday.
The seven-day rolling average continued to rise hitting 426 on Saturday, compared to 353 a week ago.
Among the latest cases, 253 individuals are unvaccinated, 15 are partially vaccinated, 218 are fully vaccinated and 22 have an unknown vaccination status.
So far, 88 per cent of eligible Ontarians have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and nearly 85 per cent have received two doses and are considered fully vaccinated.
Children under 12 years old are not yet eligible for a vaccine.
Another 370 people recovered from the virus in the past 24 hours, resulting in 3,533 active cases across Ontario.
The Ministry of Health reported three more virus-related deaths today which occured in the last month.
The ministry also removed three deaths from the cumulative death toll due to data cleaning.
The province’s virus-related death toll remains unchanged from yesterday at 9,896.
Ontario labs processed more than 30,100 tests in the past 24 hours, producing a positivity rate of 1.9 per cent, according to the ministry.
The public health regions that recorded the most new COVID-19 cases today include Toronto (76), Simcoe Muskoka (51), Ottawa (49) and Peel Region (46).
There are currently 203 patients with the virus in hospitals across the province and 130 in intensive care units.
Elliott said 115 of the ICU patients are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 15 are fully vaccinated.
On Saturday, the government expanded eligibility for third doses of COVID-19 vaccines to nearly three million more Ontarians, including people 70 years and older, health-care workers or essential caregivers in congregate settings, people who received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine or one dose of Janssen, and Indigenous peoples and their non-Indigenous household members.
However, these select groups can only book their appointment online if they received their second dose at least six months ago.
The government plans to administer booster shoots to the general population in early 2022.
The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.
FROM: CP24