Ontario confirms yet another COVID-19 spike with 315 new cases
Ontario health officials have confirmed yet another jump in new COVID-19 cases today, with a total of 315 new infections reported throughout the province.
This comes after just 251 new cases were confirmed yesterday, while 313 were reported Monday.
A closer look at #COVIDー19 daily changes in #Ontario
— Dr. Jennifer Kwan (@jkwan_md) September 16, 2020
New cases: 315
New deaths: 2
New resolved: 154
Thicker lines = 7 day moving averages.#COVID19 #COVID19ON #covid19Canada pic.twitter.com/dz4PZDhAMP
According to Health Minister Christine Elliott, the surge is once again mostly coming from three COVID-19 hot spots: Toronto (77 new cases), Ottawa (61 new cases), and Peel (54 new cases).
York and Durham regions are also reporting high case numbers today, according to Elliott, with 37 confirmed in the former and 24 in the latter.
Many have been calling for changes to be made to public health measures in these hot spots to prevent further spread, and the province is expected to make an announcement about social gatherings — which are said to be the main causes of these spikes — later this week.
There have been questions about what's driving increased cases in Ontario. As Dr. Yaffe, our Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health says, the data tells us that the recent uptick is the result of private social gatherings. We all have a role in stopping the spread of #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/WgdUhNXwls
— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) September 16, 2020
Sadly, two more deaths have also been confirmed in Ontario, bringing the province's total death toll to 2,822.
And with 154 more resolved cases, the number of remaining active COVID-19 cases in Ontario currently stands at 2,316.
Public health units meanwhile processed a total of 28,761 tests throughout Ontario yesterday, and Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday that testing numbers will once again be ramped up in the coming days and weeks as we head further into the second wave.
According to Minister Elliott, 64 per cent of today's cases are in people under the age of 40, while "hospitalizations, ICU admissions and vented patients continue to remain essentially stable."
