Ontario logs over 1,200 new COVID-19 cases, highest since mid-February

The Government of Ontario confirmed 1,258 new COVID-19 cases on Friday morning, the highest case count in almost two weeks.

There are also 1,007 resolved cases and 28 more virus-related deaths.

This is the highest case count since February 13, with 1,300 cases. Today’s cases increased from Thursday’s 1,138, Wednesday’s 1,054, Tuesday’s 975, Monday’s 1,058, Sunday’s 1,087, and Saturday’s 1,228.

Of the newly announced cases, 362 are in Toronto, 274 are in Peel, and 104 are in York Region.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said over 64,000 tests were completed, and 643,765 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been administered.

Ontario is reporting 1,258 cases of #COVID19 and over 64,000 tests completed. Locally, there are 362 new cases in Toronto, 274 in Peel and 104 in York Region.

As of 6:00 p.m. yesterday, 643,765 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) February 26, 2021

On February 19, Premier Doug Ford announced that the Stay at Home orders would be extended for Toronto, Peel Region, and North Bay-Parry Sound until at least March 8. York Region moved into the Red-Control zone on February 22.

Toronto and Peel’s top doctors had previously asked the province to extend the orders due to the emerging COVID-19 variants.

Now, 31 regions have reverted to the updated colour-coded system.

Cases of the UK, South African, and Brazilian COVID-19 variants have been confirmed in Ontario.

Health officials have called the fast-spreading UK mutation a “significant threat,” and evidence is still emerging on how the vaccines work against the new variants.

To date, Ontario has seen 298,569 COVID-19 cases and 6,944 virus-related deaths.