NRPH confirmed 22 new cases of COVID-19 in the region on Friday.
The death toll remained unchanged, however the number of presumed variant cases increased to 52.
So far, 52 possible variants are pending confirmation, and two cases of the so-called U.K variant have been confirmed in Niagara.
Public Health has not reported where the variant cases have been found.
There are 171 confirmed active cases across the region, after 17 cases resolved on Friday.
Ontario update
Public Health Ontario has reported 1,250 new cases of COVID-19 today (March 5).
Today's report includes 1,159 recoveries and 22 new deaths, of which, two were long-term care residents.
The deaths reported today include one person between 40 and 59 years old, 11 people between 60 and 79 years old, and 10 people aged 80 or older.
The province has reported 59 new hospitalizations since yesterday, and nine new admissions of COVID-19 patients to intensive care units.
The March 5 update provided by the province's public health agency also reported the following data:
- 10,378 active cases, which is up from 10,309 yesterday
- 643 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario, down from 649 reported yesterday.
- There are 280 COVID patients in intensive care units (down from 281) and 183 COVID patients on ventilators (same as yesterday)
- The province reported 64,748 tests were processed yesterday resulting in a 2.3 per cent positivity rate.
- Another 34,037 tests are still under investigation and/or being processed. To date, 11.2 million tests have been completed.
- Of the 1,250 new cases reported today, 337 are from Toronto, 167 cases are from Peel, 129 are from York Region, and 35 are from Simcoe-Muskoka
- There are 85 active outbreaks at long-term care homes, 56 at retirement homes, and 26 at hospitals.
- The new cases reported today include 226 individuals aged 19 and under, 465 people between 20 and 39 years old, 367 people between 40 and 59 years old, 159 people between 60 and 79 years old, and 34 people aged 80 and over.
Variants of concern
- The province has reported 799 lab-confirmed cases of the UK variant strain of COVID-19 (B.1.1.7).
- The province has reported 31 cases of B.1.351 (also known as the South African variant).
- The province has reported 3 cases of P.1, which is the variant strain that originated in Brazil.
- 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 35,886 doses of vaccines against COVID-19 administered on March 4, which is up from 30,409 administered on Mar. 3.
- As of 8 p.m. on March 4, the province reported 820,714 doses of vaccine against COVID-19 have been administered.
- In total, 269,063 people have been fully vaccinated with two doses of vaccine.
Public Health Ontario has confirmed 306,007 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and reported 288,583 recoveries and 7,046 deaths, of which 3,873 were individuals living in long-term care homes.
The cumulative average incidence rate in the province is 2,058.7 cases per 100,000 people in Ontario.
The weekly incidence rate in Ontario is 51.1 cases per 100,000 people, which is a decrease of 0.4 per cent from last week (Feb. 17-23).
