

Chris Herhalt, CP24.com





Ontario public health officials reported 478 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, along with 22 more deaths, bringing the province’s total case count including recoveries to 6,237.

This is slightly down from 483 on Thursday and a record 550 new cases on Wednesday.

This brings Ontario’s official, centrally reported death toll to 222, although a scan of the province’s 34 public health units on Friday afternoon found 269 deaths due to COVID-19.

Provincial health officials have said this is due to a 16 hour lag between when numbers are pulled from the central system, known as iPHIS, and when they are released to the public.

More than 2,500 patients have made full recoveries from the disease, or about 41 per cent of the province’s total.

Seventy-three long-term care homes and seventeen hospitals in the province have now reported at least one COVID-19 case originating in their facility.

Of 222 of the province’s confirmed deaths due to COVID-19, only one has been in a person younger than 40.

Fifteen people aged 40 to 59 have died due to COVID-19, along with 70 people between the ages of 60 and 79, and 136 people over the age of 80.

So far in Ontario, 16.2 per cent of those infected above the age of 80 have died.

Speaking briefly about Ontario’s results so far on Friday, Ontario Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Williams says that while the province is seeing the number of deaths projected at the lower end of its model, it is well below projections on hospitalizations.

“I think in that sense from a quick look it looks better than what was predicted.”

The province completed tests for 5,573 people in the past 24 hours, up from 4,091 during the previous period.

Premier Ford has demanded the province test as many people as possible, with the province able to process 13,000 tests per day.

Officials say 673 people are in hospital with COVID-19, with 260 admitted to intensive care units.

Of the 260 in intensive care, 217 are breathing with the help of a ventilator.