As of Friday, Ontario is reporting 340 new cases of COVID-19 while Ontario is behind meeting targets to move out of step 3 of the Roadmap to Reopen.
Photo Credit: CTV News
Ontario is reporting 340 new cases, the highest number of new cases since June 26. The province’s seven-day average has inflated from 170 last week to 214 this week.
The number of new COVID-19 cases in Ontario is steadily climbing. Just one day earlier officials reported 213 cases. Prior to Thursday, the number of new cases reported daily was below 170 for the three days.
The Delta variant, also known as the B.1.617 variant, was first discovered in India in late 2020 and is known to be highly contagious. Delta is of concern in Ontario as the total number in the province reaches 5,137 on Friday.
Photo Credit: The Madawaska Valley Current
Ontario remains in step 3 of the reopening plan amidst daily case counts climbing. The province has been in step 3 for three weeks but will not yet drop more restrictions. Ontario is holding firm on reaching vaccination targets before rolling back virtually all public health measures.
Ontario has moved through the roadmap with ease, meeting steps 1 and 2’s vaccination thresholds within 21 days. However, Friday marked 21 days of step 3 and didn’t come with any ease of restrictions as vaccination thresholds weren’t met.
In order to exit the roadmap, Ontario needed, 80% of the eligible population aged 12 and over to have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 75% to have received their second dose and for all public health units to have 70% of their eligible population fully vaccinated.
Photo Credit: Ontario Vaccination Tracker
Ontario met the first vaccination threshold with 81.8% of the eligible population having received one dose as of Friday. The province is just behind for the double vaccinated quota with 72.39% of eligible Ontarians double vaccinated. As for the final condition pertaining to public health units, out of the 34 units, 17 units reported 70% of their personnel as fully vaccinated.