More than 15% of Ontario schools now have COVID cases, one school closed due to outbreak

Ontario is reporting another 727 COVID-19 cases and 11 more deaths. Of the 11 deaths, three occurred more than a month ago and were added to the cumulative count as part of a data cleanup, according to the province's latest report released Friday morning.

Ontario has administered 46,550 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 21,566,334 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night.

According to the Star's vaccine tracker, 11,159,460 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 85.6 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 75.1 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.

The province says 10,406,874 people have completed their vaccinations, which means they've had both doses. That works out to approximately 79.8 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 70.0 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.

The province now includes data that reflects hospitalizations and cases by vaccination status. Ontario warns that the new process may cause discrepancies between other hospitalization numbers being collected using a different process, and that the data may not match daily COVID-19 case counts.

The province reports 447 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in unvaccinated people, 56 were partially vaccinated, and 170 cases in fully vaccinated people. Again, the province warns the data may not match daily COVID case counts because records with a missing or invalid health card number can't be linked.

The province is also including data on COVID-19 in schools as part of its daily reporting.

There are 750 schools with a reported case of COVID out of 4,844 schools in the province, or 15.48 per cent.

There are 173 new cases reported Thursday for a total of 1,484 reported school-related COVID cases in Ontario.

The province says one school has closed due to outbreak, but has not specified the name of the school.

To find out if there are COVID cases at your child's school, use the Star's tracker tool to search.

The province says 36,855 tests were completed the previous day, and a 1.8 per cent positivity rate.

There are 308 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province, including 167 patients in intensive care testing positive for COVID-19. There are 134 people on ventilators.

Locally, Ontario reports 144 new cases in Toronto, 83 in Peel Region, 70 in Ottawa, 66 in Hamilton and 54 in York Region.

Meanwhile, one more resident in long-term-care has died for a total of 3,814 since the pandemic began, in the latest report released by the province. There are 49 active cases among residents, the highest reported number since May.

Ontario is reporting two more long-term-care homes in outbreak, for a total of 15 or 2.4 per cent of LTC homes in the province, the highest number since June.

This data is self-reported by the long-term-care homes to the Ministry of Long-Term Care. Daily case and death figures may not immediately match the numbers posted by the local public health units due to lags in reporting time.

There are no new confirmed cases of the Alpha variant first detected in the United Kingdom, for a cumulative total of 146,455 cases.

There are no new cases in Ontario of the Beta variant first detected in South Africa, for a cumulative total of 1,502 cases.

There are no new cases of the Gamma variant first found in Brazil, for a cumulative total of 5,229 cases.

There are 98 more cases of the Delta variant first detected in India, for a cumulative total of 17,836 cases.

Urbi Khan is a Toronto-based staff reporter for the Star. Reach her via email: urbikhan@thestar.ca