Ontario health officials reported 421 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, along with 39 new deaths, pushing the provincial death toll above 1,100. Friday’s disclosure is more positive than Thursday’s, where a whopping 86 deaths were confirmed in a single day, along with more 500 new infections.
The total number of cases including deaths and recoveries now stands at 16,608.
Close to two-thirds of all cases in the province, 10,825, are now considered resolved, an increase of 620 since yesterday. For the past several days, the rate of recovery from the virus has exceeded the rate of new infection, a very positive sign. All but 56 of the 1,121 people confirmed to have died from the novel coronavirus in the province were above the age of 60, with 774 of them above the age of 80 when they died.
There are now 198 outbreaks in the province’s long-term care system, representing close to one third of all such facilities in the province. More than 2,400 healthcare workers have contracted the virus since the outbreak began.
While the apex of the peak may have passed, Ontario hospitals are taking in an increasing number of patients struggling with the disease. Hospitals had 1,017 COVID-19 patients under some form of treatment on Friday, up from 999 on Thursday. Of those, 225 were in intensive care, down eight from Thursday. The number of patients intubated fell by six to 175.
Ontario’s network of labs completed 16,532 tests in the previous 24 hours, a new daily record that exceeds what provincial officials promised they would hit by next week. Based on the number of tests completed, only 2.5 per cent of those tested came back positive for infection, half of the positive rate seen on Thursday and for most of the last week.
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