Ontario reports over 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for fourth straight day

The Government of Ontario confirmed 1,185 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday morning as cases continued to rise.

The province is also reporting 984 newly-resolved cases and 16 additional deaths.

Today’s cases are lower than Friday’s 1,258 – which was the highest count in almost two weeks – but higher than Thursday’s 1,138, Wednesday’s 1,054, Tuesday’s 975, Monday’s 1,058, and Sunday’s 1,087.

Of the newly announced cases, 331 are in Toronto, 220 are in Peel, and 119 are in York Region.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said over 59,400 tests were completed, and 668,104 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been administered.

Ontario is reporting 1,185 cases of #COVID19 and over 59,400 tests completed. Locally, there are 331 new cases in Toronto, 220 in Peel and 119 in York Region.

As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 668,104 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) February 27, 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.

The province announced on Friday that as of 12:01 am on March 1, nine regions will be moved to different levels of the reopening framework.

The changes include activating an “emergency brake” for Thunder Bay District and Simcoe-Muskoka District, which reverts the health units back into the Grey-Lockdown zone in order to interrupt virus transmission.

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 299,754 COVID-19 cases and 6,960 virus-related deaths.