Ontario reports 8,825 new COVID cases on Tuesday | Globalnews.ca

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said there were 8,825 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, a lower count compared to the rest of the week. The provincial case total now stands at 715,405.

Over the last three days, there were 9,418 new infections on Monday, 9,826 reported on Sunday and a record-breaking 10,412 new cases on Saturday. The seven-day average has now reached 8,318.

For comparison, last Tuesday saw 3,453 new cases and the previous Tuesday saw 1,429 new cases. Tuesday’s typically have lower case counts due to testing from the weekend.

Elliott said 491 people are hospitalized with COVID, which is up from Monday’s report when there were 480 people hospitalized. There are 187 people in ICUs (intensive care units) due to a COVID-related illness, which is up from the previous day when there were 176 people.

Despite the recent rise in cases, the number of people in ICUs due to COVID-19 has remained relatively stable, but is now on a slow rise.

Elliott said there were more than 144,000 vaccine doses administered the previous day. She said 90.7 per cent of Ontarians aged 12 and older have had one vaccine dose, while 88 per cent have received at least two.

Deaths, recoveries, testing volumes, test positivity or data on vaccination status for cases and hospitalizations was not available.

The full dataset for numbers regarding the COVID-19 situation in Ontario was not released due to the holidays — Monday and Tuesday are observed as statutory holidays as Christmas Day and Boxing Day fell on the weekend this year.

All data is expected to be updated Wednesday, and will cover Dec. 25 to Dec. 29.

Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, is expected to make an announcement to update testing guidance and case and contact tracing as testing capacity becomes strained with many unable to promptly book a PCR test.