COVID-19 update: Ontario reports lowest case count since March 29 and completed over 17,000 tests
TORONTO, ON., May 13, 2020 — Today the province reported its lowest COVID-19 case count since March 29 when the province only recorded 211 new cases. The province reported 258 cases today, 71 fewer than yesterday and sadly the province also reported 33 deaths which are 7 fewer than reported yesterday. The province’s death toll has now risen to 1,798. This is the third straight day that Ontario’s case counts have dropped, after reporting 329 new cases of the virus yesterday and 361 on the previous day. Meanwhile, 16,204 COVID-19 cases have been resolved, as the province also completed 17,429 tests yesterday, about 2,000 more tests than its last report.
Sadly 1,274 of Ontario’s 1,798 deaths have occurred in people over the age of 80 with an additional 442 deaths in the 60-79 age category. While 86 people aged 20-59 have also lost their lives due to the COVID-19 virus.
Ontario’s total case count including recoveries is 21,495 while the there have also been 16,204 recoveries and the province has now completed 492,487 tests.
The number of COVID-19 cases for the past seven days are 477, 346, 294, 308, 361, 329 and 258 respectively, whereas last week the province was reporting between 400 and 510 cases.
Long-term care homes have been hardest hit
Meanwhile, the long-term care situation continues to be grim. The total number of active cases in the long-term care homes is 2,870 along with 1,564 staff members. A total of 254 outbreaks, two less than yesterday were reported in long-term care homes along with more than 1,239 deaths.
Hospitals have also reported 326 staff cases of COVID-19 which is 22 more since yesterday. Zero deaths were reported among hospital staff yesterday so the death toll for hospital staff remains at to 52. There now have been 76 outbreaks in Ontario hospitals, which is the three more than yesterday’s report.
According to hospital stats provided by the Ontario Ministry of Health from May 13 as of 4 pm, the number of actively hospitalized patients in Ontario due to the coronavirus is 1,028, which are 8 more than yesterday, while the total number of patients currently in Intensive Care is 184. 14 patients were listed as being on ventilators. Also of note, 3,607 of the total 21,494 cases are healthcare workers.
Ontario daily COVID-19 case counts past 20 days
If you take a look at the numbers over the past 14 days you will see that the average continues to drop as over the past seven days have seen an average of 339 new cases a day while the previous 7 days, the daily average was 353. So the case counts are continuing to drop and the number of tests are at a high rate, meaning the virus is slowing down in Ontario, which has precipitated the province to launch Phase 1 of its reopening starting May 17th with golf courses and marinas, followed by retail stores aside from malls, as well as numerous non-team sport activities.
Ontario COVID -19 case counts since April 20, 2020
April 20 – 606, April 21 – 551, April 22 – 510, April 23 – 634, April 24 – 640, April 25 – 476, April 26 – 437, April 27 – 424, April 28 – 525, April 29 – 347, April 30 – 459, May 1 – 421, May 2 – 511, May 3 – 434, May 4 – 370, May 5 – 387, May 6 – 412, May 7 – 399, May 8 – 477, May 9 – 346, May 10 – 294, May 11 – 308, May 12 – 361, May 13 – 329, May 14 – 258
Greater Toronto Area and Toronto COVID-19 case numbers
Greater Toronto Area public health units now account for 62.4% of cases while 12.7% of those people are hospitalized. Toronto has reported 8,097 cases, while there are 3,041 in Peel, 525 in Halton (just one new case since yesterday), 1,183 in Durham, and 1,892 in York.
In Toronto, there have been 648 COVID-19 related deaths reported, which is an increase of 14 since the previous day. According to today’s numbers there were 153 new COVID-19 infections reported in Toronto bringing the city’s total up to 8,097 cases. To date, 5,851 people have recovered, an increase of 196 since yesterday. There have also been 126 COVID-19 outbreaks within institutions, down one from the previous day.
Today, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Eileen de Villa talked about the introduction of the province’s Phase 1 of Framework for reopening. “Earlier this afternoon, Premier Ford shared details for the first stage of reopening businesses, services and public spaces in the province,” said Dr. de Villa. “As it relates to our city, there are many factors we must consider in collaboration with the province and other key partners as we continue to plan safely re-opening.
Toronto’s top doctor said, “I echo the Premier in that we cannot take our progress for granted and we need to continue to monitor our data. While I am pleased with the progress we’ve made so far, we need to be ready for flare ups in our journey from COVID-19 response to COVID-19 recovery.”
Dr. de Villa emphasised that the most important consideration for reopening is that it is driven by key public health considerations including: A consistent and steady decrease in new cases, including those requiring hospitalization, Sufficient healthcare capacity and sufficient capacity for timely management of new cases and their close contacts, and sufficient testing to contain virus spread.
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