Ontario reports 3,215 new COVID-19 cases as province expected to impose Stay-at-Home order

Ontario reported 3,215 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, marking the sixth straight day that new daily infections have been near or above 3,000.

The latest high case count comes before Premier Doug Ford makes an announcement Wednesday afternoon where he’s expected to implement a second Stay-at-Home order for the province.

Of the new cases, 1,095 are in Toronto, 596 are in Peel, and 342 are in York Region.

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Another 17 deaths were announced Wednesday, which bring Ontario’s death toll to 7,475. There are currently 1,397 people in Ontario’s hospitals due to COVID-19, including 504 in the ICU.

Approximately 2.7 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the province so far, according to Health Minister Christine Elliott.

As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 2,726,221 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.

Today’s numbers will be available at 10:30 a.m. at https://t.co/ypmgZbVRvn.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) April 7, 2021

On Tuesday, Ford announced Phase 2 of Ontario’s vaccination plan would begin, meaning people with underlying medical conditions, essential workers, and people living in hotspot neighbourhoods will be eligible on a rolling basis.

Surging case counts prompted Toronto Public Health to order schools to close for two weeks on Tuesday, joining Peel Region, where schools were ordered to shut on Monday.

The latest epidemiological modelling warns Ontario’s new infections could hit 6,000 per day if the province doesn’t implement further restrictions.

To date, Ontario has seen 370,817 COVID-19 infections.