NRPH is reporting 126 cases of COVID-19 in Niagara in the largest single-day increase since the pandemic began.
There are now 537 active cases in the region.
Niagara is slated to enter the red level of the province's COVID-19 response on Monday, following a dramatic increase in daily cases in the past 1,5 weeks.
Ontario update:
Public Health Ontario has reported 2,357 new cases of COVID-19 today (Dec. 19), which is up from 2,290 new cases reported yesterday.
The province reported 27 deaths in its latest update including one person between 40 and 59 years old, eight people between 60 and 79 years old, and 18 people over the age of 80. Of the deaths reported today, nine people who died were residents from long-term care homes.
Since yesterday's report, 86 people have been hospitalized with COVID-19 and 22 COVID patients have been admitted to intensive care units.
The latest update provided by the province's public health agency also reported the following:
- 1,865 new recoveries
- 895 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario, up from 877 yesterday
- There are 256 COVID patients in intensive care units (down from 261 yesterday) and 146 COVID patients on ventilators (down from 168 yesterday)
- Of the 2,357 cases reported today, 448 are from Peel, 665 are from Toronto, 174 are from York Region, 170 are from Windsor-Essex, and 67 are from Simcoe-Muskoka
- 18,207 current active cases in Ontario, which is up from 17,742 yesterday
- Provincial public health labs have processed 67,207 tests since yesterday's report, which resulted in a 4.2 per cent positivity rate. The province's goal is to keep the per cent positivity rate below three per cent.
- Ontario's public health labs have processed more than 7.3 million COVID-19 tests since the start of the pandemic
- There is a backlog of 78,147 tests awaiting processing
