Ontario confirms slight decrease in new coronavirus cases
The Province of Ontario confirms there have been 15 more COVID-19 related deaths and 344 new cases, as of Friday morning.
The number of news cases is a slight decrease compared to Thursday’s 356 and slightly more than Wednesday’s 338.
New cases were above 400 on Monday and Tuesday, but had been in below that number for a week, since May 26.
The fluctuating cases comes as Ontario officially extended the state of emergency until June 30.
According to the latest data, a total of 20,730 were completed. This is the second day in a row testing has reached over 20,000.
It is an increase from the 17,537 tests reported on Wednesday, the 15,244 from Tuesday, and 14,379 from Monday’s report.
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Premier Doug Ford wanted the province to test 16,000 people daily starting on May 6. Testing has been fluctuating around this goal, with the last three days surpassing it.
Last week, the province released its expanded testing strategy, which includes deploying mobile teams to coronavirus hotspots and testing more workplaces, regions, and neighbourhoods.
To date, a total of 809,053 have been tested across Ontario.
The province’s total is now 29,747 but 79.3% of the cases have been resolved, with 23, 583 patients recovered.
A total of 2,372 people have died from coronavirus in Ontario, and there are 12,247 cases currently under investigation.
According to the Public Health Ontario Daily Epidemiologic Summary (iPHIS), there are 166 outbreaks in long-term care homes, with 1,519 resident deaths. Around 17.6% of cases in all of Ontario come from these facilities.
However, the Ministry of Long-Term Care Daily Report says there have been 85 outbreaks reported in long-term care homes with 1,692 resident deaths.
According to Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario relies on local public health units to report on the coronavirus, both in the community and in long-term care homes, through iPHIS, in which there is a delay in the data being received.
At the same time, the Ministry of Long-Term Care has started collecting information about coronavirus in long-term care homes through its network of inspectors.
On May 26, Ford said the province is investigating long-term care homes after reports from military members helping in long-term care homes show “heartbreaking and horrific” concerns.
The provincial government will also take over five more long-term care homes that Ford is “most concerned” about and will perform “rigorous inspections” of 13 more homes over the coming weeks.
Government of Ontario
The Greater Toronto Area public health units account for more than half of the cases at 66.6%.
Of the total cases, 44.4% are male and 54.8% are female, with 38.6% of cases age 60 years and older.
To date, there are 749 hospitalized, with 118 in ICU, and 94 patients on ventilators.
Government of Ontario
The daily summary is based on data reported by the 34 public health units across Ontario and recorded in the province’s integrated Public Health Information System, according to the Ontario government.
iPHIS is the Ministry of Health’s disease reporting system where data is regularly updated, and where each daily summary is pulled at 4 pm the previous day.
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