Ontario reports over 850 student COVID-19 cases and four school closures

The Government of Ontario reports 162 new COVID-19 cases in schools across the province, reporting over 1,100 cases in the last two weeks.

According to the provincial government, 138 cases are student-related, and 24 are staff-related.

The new total has reached 4,269 since back to school.

There have been 1,193 school-related cases in just two weeks, with 3,076 reported 14 or more days before that.

The numbers are announced daily at 10:30 am on the province’s school and childcare centre coronavirus-tracking website.

Ontario government

Out of the total cases recorded since September, about 61% have been from students.

The province now confirms four school closures out of the 688 schools that have cases.

Ontario government

As for licensed childcare centres, there are now 721 total confirmed cases with 124 centres and 448 homes closed.

Ontario government

As of Monday, both Toronto and Peel regions are under Lockdown level measures for the next 28 days as the province continues to report over 1,000 new cases daily. Increases in daily case numbers have been more prominent in the GTA region.

The new restrictions are meant to prevent a province-wide lockdown, said Premier Doug Ford on Friday as he announced the new measures.

On Wednesday, Ontario’s government confirmed 1,373 new COVID-19 cases with 35 more deaths — the highest count in the second wave.

This is an increase from Tuesday’s 1,009, which was low due to “technical issues,” but a decrease from Monday’s record-breaking 1,589, beating Saturday’s record-breaking 1,588 at the time, and Sunday’s 1,534.