Ontario reports 656 new COVID-19 cases, two-thirds in unvaccinated people

Ontario reported 656 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, roughly the number that were logged on the same day last week — another indicator that the spread of the delta variant is slowing, at least for now.

Of the 601 cases today with a known vaccination status:

• 397, or 66 per cent, were in those unvaccinated.
• 52, or nine per cent, had a single dose.
• 152, or 25 per cent, had two doses.

The province's raw data on the vaccination status of cases does not include breakdowns by age. That, and the fact that the populations of vaccinated and unvaccinated people in Ontario differ greatly by both size and demographics, are important caveats to note.

The additional cases include 158 in Toronto, 76 in York Region, 73 in Hamilton, 59 in Peel Region, 50 in Windsor-Essex, 31 in Durham Region, 30 in Middlesex-London, 29 in Halton Region and 26 in Waterloo Region.

Last Wednesday, Ontario recorded 660 further infections from roughly the same number of tests. According to the province's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, the doubling time for cases has extended to 32 days, up from just eight days in early August.

The effective reproduction number, a measure of how many people an infected person will go to infect, was 1.09 as of August 28, the table says. That is down significantly from about four weeks ago when the estimated reproduction value was more than 1.6.

As of yesterday, there were 339 people with COVID-19 in hospital. Of those, 163 were being treated for COVID-related critical illnesses in intensive care. 

In a Twitter post encouraging residents to get vaccinated, Ontario Hospital Association President and CEO Anthony Dale said that 15 more adults with COVID-19 were admitted to ICUs yesterday. 

The Ministry of Health also reported the deaths of 13 more people with COVID-19. A ministry spokesperson said in an email that five of the deaths happened in the last week, while the other eight occurred "more than a week ago."

Meanwhile, this afternoon Premier Doug Ford is announcing his government's plan for a proof-of-vaccination system, often called a vaccine passport or certificate.

Here are some other key pandemic indicators and figures from the Ministry of Health's daily provincial update:

Seven-day rolling average of daily cases: 701.

Tests in the last 24 hours: 27,572, with a provincewide positivity rate of 2.9 per cent.

Active cases: 5,861.

Death toll: 9,516.

Vaccinations: 34,703 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered by public health units on Sunday. About 76.4 per cent of eligible Ontarians, or those aged 12 and older, have now had two doses. That represents 67.7 per cent of the province's total population.