Public Health Ontario has reported 2,316 new cases of COVID-19 today (Dec. 19), which is down from 2,357 new cases reported yesterday.
The province reported 25 deaths in its latest update including two people between 40 and 59 years old, 10 people between 60 and 79 years old, and 13 people over the age of 80. Of the deaths reported today, 18 people were residents from long-term care homes.
Since yesterday's report, 54 people have been hospitalized with COVID-19 and 19 COVID patients have been admitted to intensive care units.
The latest update provided by the province's public health agency also reported the following:
- 1,931 new recoveries
- 875 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario, down from 895 yesterday, however, Public Health Ontario notes more than 10 per cent of the province's hospitals do not submit data to the daily bed census on weekends, so the numbers could increase once those hospitals report
- There are 261 COVID patients in intensive care units (up from 256 yesterday) and 156 COVID patients on ventilators (up from 146 yesterday)
- Of the 2,316 cases reported today, 468 are from Peel, 486 are from Toronto, 326 are from York Region, 151 are from Windsor-Essex, and 62 are from Simcoe-Muskoka
- 18,567 current active cases in Ontario, which is up from 18,207 yesterday
- Provincial public health labs have processed 69,412 tests since yesterday's report, which resulted in a 3.6 per cent positivity rate. The province's goal is to keep the per cent positivity rate below three per cent.
- Ontario's public health labs have processed more than 7.3 million COVID-19 tests since the start of the pandemic
- There is a backlog of 54,546 tests awaiting processing
Public Health Ontario has confirmed 155,930 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and reported 133,213 recoveries and 4,150 deaths.
The cumulative average incidence rate in the province is 1,049 cases per 100,000 people in Ontario. The weekly incidence rate in Ontario is 97.6 cases per 100,000 people from Dec. 10 to Dec. 16, which is up by 10 per cent compared to Dec. 4-10 when the incidence rate was 88.4 cases per 100,000 people.
On Friday, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit reported 58 new cases of COVID-19 in the region and the death of a Midland woman over the age of 80 whose case was linked to the active outbreak at Georgian Bay General Hospital in Midland.
The local health unit has now confirmed 2,898 cases of COVID-19 with 2,377 of those cases recovered and 58 cases ending in death. There are approximately 430 active, lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the region, with the majority of those in Simcoe County.
There are at least 15 people from Simcoe County hospitalized.
There have been 2,771 cases confirmed in just Simcoe County, with 2,271 of those now recovered and 56 deaths.
The health unit does not provide local updates on the weekend and will report the latest cases in the region on Monday afternoon.
For the latest breakdown of cases in the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit, click here.
