Ontario reports more than 1,800 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday

Ontario is reporting 1,808 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and nine recent deaths.

The seven-day rolling average is 1,514. Of the new cases, 343 are in Toronto. Ontario has consistently reported more than 1,000 daily cases for more than seven consecutive days.

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Public Health Ontario released new data on the Omicron variant in the province, and it shows a stark image of how quickly the variant is spreading. As of December 9, 33% of tested samples were positive for the Omicron variant.

According to Public Health Ontario, when accounting for delays caused by symptom onset, testing, and reporting, it estimates that 80% of new COVID-19 infections, as of December 13, are the Omicron variant.

The data shows that each person infected with Omicron is infecting 7.7 times more people than those with the Delta variant.

“Jurisdictions, including Ontario, will need to rapidly implement public health responses to contain the rapid spread of Omicron,” the report by Ontario Public Health says.

Public Health Ontario’s report said that Omicron is likely already the dominant variant spreading in the province.

Unvaccinated individuals continue to be disproportionately infected with COVID-19. Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted that 684 new cases are in unvaccinated individuals, who make up 23.0% of the population. In addition, 98 of the new infections have an unknown or partial vaccine status.

Individuals who are not fully vaccinated represent 23.0% of Ontario’s total population and amount to 664 of Ontario’s 1,808 new reported cases. 98 cases are in individuals with an unknown vaccination status.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) December 15, 2021

Across Ontario, 357 people are hospitalized. Of those, 273 are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, and 84 are fully vaccinated.

There are 154 patients in the ICU. Nearly all of them are not fully vaccinated, with 30 having received a full course of vaccine.

The province has administered 24,711,702 doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Across the province, 90.3% of those aged 12 and up have received at least one dose, and 87.7% have received both.

To date, Ontario has seen 636,920 COVID-19 infections and 10,093 deaths.