Ontario reports highest new COVID-19 case count in two weeks

Ontario reported 192 new COVID-19 cases and one more death Friday.

That’s the highest daily case count since July 8, and comes as the province lifted several more COVID-19 restrictions last week when it moved into Step 3 of the reopening plan.

Ontario has seen several weeks of declining daily COVID-19 case counts, but the last two days have seen a levelling off and a slight increase in new case counts.

Government of Ontario

But case counts from this week are still much lower than they were during earlier phases of the pandemic. Daily cases have hovered below 200 for the last seven days, including Thursday’s 185 cases, Wednesday’s 135, Tuesday’s 127, Monday’s 130, Sundays’ 177, and Saturday’s 176.

Broken down by region, 43 of the latest cases are in Toronto, 25 are in Peel, 18 are in York Region, 18 are in Waterloo, 11 are in Durham, and 11 are in Hamilton.

So far the province has administered 18.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, according to Health Minister Christine Elliott. Everyone 12 and up is now eligible to get both shots.

As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 18,724,400 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, including 120,231 doses administered yesterday.

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

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) July 23, 2021

It’s now been one week since Ontario transitioned into Step 3 of the provincial COVID-19 reopening plan, and health officials are watching COVID-19 indicators to see if relaxed restrictions will lead to an increase in cases.

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The province will remain in Step 3 for at least 21 days or until key public health indicators are met, such as having 75% of Ontarians aged 12 and over fully vaccinated.

Dr. Kieran Moore, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, has said that once those benchmarks are met, the “vast majority” of public health and workplace safety measures can be lifted.

These include indoor and outdoor capacity limits and gathering restrictions.

Ontario has seen 548,986 total COVID-19 cases and 9,308 total deaths since the pandemic began.