Public Health Ontario has reported 1,268 new cases of COVID-19 today (March 15).
Today's report includes nine new deaths, including two people between 60 and 79 years old, and seven people aged 80 or older. Three of the deaths reported today were residents of long-term care homes.
The province has reported 63 new hospitalizations since yesterday, and six new admissions of COVID-19 patients to intensive care units.
The March 15 update provided by the province's public health agency also reported the following data:
- 1,114 recoveries
- 12,528 active cases, which is up from 12,383 yesterday
- 699 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario, up from 601 reported yesterday.
- There are 298 COVID patients in intensive care units (up from 282 yesterday) and 187 COVID patients on ventilators (up from 186 yesterday)
- The province reported 33,975 tests were processed yesterday resulting in a 3.8 per cent positivity rate.
- Another 10,954 tests are still under investigation and/or being processed. To date, 11.7 million tests have been completed.
- Of the 1,268 new cases reported today, 366 are from Toronto, 220 cases are from Peel, 147 are from York Region, and 33 are from Simcoe-Muskoka
- There are 74 active outbreaks at long-term care homes, 52 at retirement homes, and 29 at hospitals.
- The new cases reported today include 254 individuals aged 19 and under, 494 people between 20 and 39 years old, 335 people between 40 and 59 years old, 147 people between 60 and 79 years old, and 38 people aged 80 and over.
Variants of concern (Ontario-wide)
- 1,106 lab-confirmed cases of the UK variant strain of COVID-19 (B.1.1.7).
- 44 cases of B.1.351 (also known as the South African variant).
- 34 cases of P.1, which is the variant strain that originated in Brazil.
- Another 8,630 cases have screened positive with a mutation detected, but the lineage for the variant strain not yet detected.
- 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.
Vaccines
- There were 33,198 doses of vaccines against COVID-19 administered on March 14, which is down from 41,859 administered on Mar. 13.
- As of 8 p.m. on March 14, the province reported 1,191,553 doses of vaccine against COVID-19 have been administered.
- In total, 287,283 people have been fully vaccinated.
Public Health Ontario has confirmed 319,374 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and reported 299,684 recoveries and 7,162 deaths, of which 3,881 were individuals living in long-term care homes.
The cumulative average incidence rate in the province is 2,148.6 cases per 100,000 people in Ontario.
The weekly incidence rate in Ontario is 59.9 cases per 100,000 people, which is an increase of 15 per cent from last week (Feb. 27 - Mar. 5).
On Friday, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit reported 45 new cases.
There are currently 343 active, lab-confirmed cases in the region, most of which are in Simcoe County. Twenty people are currently hospitalized.
There have been 243 confirmed instances of the B.1.1.7 variant strain that originated in the UK, seven cases of the P.1 strain that originated in Brazil, and one case of the B.1.351 strain that originated in South Africa in cases reported in Simcoe County and Muskoka.
Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 6,884 cases of COVID-19 with 6,273 of those cases recovered and 192 cases ending in death.
The weekly incidence rate for Simcoe-Muskoka region is 45.7 cases per 100,000 people, which is up by 24.5 per cent compared to 36.7 cases per 100,000 people for the week of Feb. 27 to March 6.
