Ontario reports 745 new COVID cases Tuesday, but more reporting glitches

Public Health Ontario has reported 745 new cases of COVID-19 today. 

For the third day in a row, the total new cases reported today is impacted by Toronto Public Health's data reporting, which is being migrated to the province's system. 

"Toronto Public Health's case count is negative following the identification of duplicate cases as well as some data corrections to some fields (e.g., long-term care home residents and health care workers), resulting in an underestimation of today's cases," states the Feb. 2 report by Public Health Ontario. "In addition, case counts for other public health units may have been affected by system outages." 

In total, 142 previously-reported cases were removed from the list, and 1,029 new cases were added, resulting in a net increase of 745 cases.

The province's public health agency is "anticipating fluctuations" in the daily case counts over the next few days. 

However, there is a report for Feb. 2, and it includes 2,297 new recoveries, and 14 new deaths, four of whom were residents at long-term care homes.

The deaths reported today include one person between 20 and 39 years old, two people between 40 and 59 years old, and 14 people over the age of 80. The province has removed four deaths previously reported, all four were individuals between 60 and 79 years old.

Hospitalizations have also been impacted by the province's data correction today with 47 previously-reported hospitalizations removed from the list today, and 15 cases removed from the cumulative intensive care hospitalization numbers.

The Feb. 2 update provided by the province's public health agency also reported the following data:

• 17,451 active cases, which is down from 19,017 yesterday
• 1,192 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario, up from 1,158 reported yesterday. 
• There are 341 COVID patients in intensive care units (down from 354 yesterday) and 253 COVID patients on ventilators (down from 260 yesterday).
• The province reported 28,552 tests were processed yesterday resulting in a 4.6 per cent positivity rate.
• There is a backlog of 32,348 tests. To date, 9.7 million tests have been completed.
• Of the new cases reported today, Toronto reported -119. 334 cases are from Peel, 124 are from York Region, and 42 are from Simcoe-Muskoka
• There are 240 active outbreaks at long-term care homes, 133 at retirement homes and 83 at hospitals. 
• Of the cases reported today there are 161 people under 19 years old, 233 people between 20 and 39 years old, 214 people between 40 and 59 years old, 114 people between 60 and 79 years old, and the report has removed three cases of people over the age of 80. 

Variant of concern

• The province has reported 109 lab-confirmed cases of the UK variant strain of COVID-19 (B.1.1.7). 
• The province has reported one case of B.1.351 (also known as the South African variant.
• According to Public Health Ontario, there are delays between specimen collection and the testing required to confirm a variant of concern. As such, the reports can change and can differ from past case counts publicly reported.

Vaccine update for Feb. 2:

• There were 2,715 doses of vaccines against COVID-19 administered on Feb 1, down from 2,256 on Jan. 30.
• As of 8 p.m. on Feb. 1, the province reports 344,615 doses of vaccine against COVID-19 have been administered.
• In total, 72,057 people have been fully vaccinated, having received two doses of vaccine, which are to be given a few weeks apart.

Public Health Ontario has confirmed 270,925 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and reported 247,246 recoveries and 6,238 deaths, of which 3,618 were individuals living in long-term care homes.

The cumulative average incidence rate in the province is 1,822.6 cases per 100,000 people in Ontario.

The weekly incidence rate in Ontario is 87.7 cases per 100,000 people from Jan. 23 to Jan. 29, which is a decrease of 20.6 per cent compared to Jan. 17 to Jan. 23 when the average weekly incidence rate was 110.4 cases per 100,000 people.

In Northern Ontario, the breakdown of Public Health Ontario data is:

• Algoma Public Health: 167 cases, rate of 145.9 per 100,000 people. There are 19 known active cases.
• North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit: 192 cases, rate of 148 per 100,000 people. The health unit has reported 193 cases. There are six known active cases.
• Porcupine Health Unit: 278 cases, rate of 333.2 per 100,000 people. The health unit has reported 279 cases. There are 80 known active cases. 
• Public Health Sudbury and Districts: 526 cases, rate of 264.3 per 100,000 people. The health unit has reported 520 cases. There are 81 known active cases. 
• Timiskaming Health Unit: 89 cases, rate of 272.3 per 100,000 people. The health unit has reported 90 cases. There is one known active case.
• Northwestern Health Unit: 263 cases, rate of 300 per 100,000 people. There are 15 known active cases. 
• Thunder Bay District Health Unit: 985 cases, rate of 656.8 per 100,000 people. The health unit has reported 1,001 cases. There are 142 known active cases.

The Ontario government has declared a state of emergency, the second since the start of the pandemic, and a stay at-home order is in effect until at least Feb. 11, 2021. There are additional measures in place for the shutdown, all of which can be found in this provincial breakdown.