This is the Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021 coronavirus update. Oakville is reporting 174 new cases today, almost twice as many as the previous record (88) set just earlier this week.
Two more new daily case count records were set today: or the first time ever, Halton Region reports more than 500 new cases today, by far the most of any day in the Region, and Ontario's surpasses 5,000 (5,790, to be exact.)
More than half of all Halton COVID-19 patients are at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital while an outbreak at OTMH has led to ten cases in the last week. Local testing positivity remains above 10%.
But Ontario's positivity reached 16% today, the highest ever recorded. That means nearly 1 in 6 of all PCR tests in the province are coming back positive. Ontario reported 5,790 new cases today, shattering the previous record by nearly 1,000 cases. Active cases are up more than 4,000 today, having more than doubled (from 15,500 to over 32,000) in the last six days.
Active cases are up by more than 16,000 across all of Canada, with five provinces reported record-setting totals just today. More than 5.6 million Canadians have now received their third booster dose, and the cumulative total of worldwide COVID-19 cases has surpassed 275 million people.
**Vaccine booking update: Halton is now booking first and second dose vaccinations for all residents age 5 and older, plus third dose boosters for all adults age 18 and up.
Booster doses and appointments for children must be made in advance, but first and second doses for those 12 and up are available on a walk-in basis.
All vaccines approved for use in Canada effectively protect you against COVID-19 and all known variants of concern.
Note: Oakville News updates are published at least five days a week, sharing new Halton data from Tuesday to Friday and Ontario, Canada, and globally Monday through Saturday.
Oakville and Halton COVID-19 update
- Oakville is reporting 174 new cases today - that's almost twice as many as the previous one-day record (88) set just earlier this week
- More than half of all Halton COVID-19 patients are at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH)
- An outbreak at OTMH has led to ten cases in the last week
- Test positivity in Halton last week is reported at 10.1% - the highest rate since April 2020
- Halton Region has administered over one million doses of COVID-19 vaccine
Summary of Oakville vaccinations
- 74% of all Oakville residents are fully vaccinated
- 80% of all Oakville have received at least one dose
Changes in figures are since the Oakville News update on Dec. 22, 2021.
- 618 active cases - plus 111
- 7 patients at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital - plus 1
- 7,211 total cases (confirmed and probable) - plus 174
- 69 deaths - no change
- 6,698 recoveries - plus 63
- 6,767 completed (recoveries+deaths) cases - 93.8% of cases
- 4 active outbreaks - minus 1
Status in Halton
- 76% of all Halton residents are fully vaccinated
- 82% of all residents have received at least one dose
- 87,581 Halton residents have received a booster shot - plus 6,799
- At least 1.02 million total vaccinations administered - plus 7,632
Changes in figures are since the Oakville News update on Dec. 22, 2021.
- 1,774 active cases - plus 331
- 12 cases in hospitals across Halton - plus 2
- 23,322 total cases (confirmed+probable) - plus 515
- 246 deaths - no change
- 21,302 recoveries - plus 184
- 21,447 completed (recoveries+deaths) cases - 91.9% of cases
- 14 active outbreaks - minus 1
School cases (as of Dec. 20, 2021)
- Oakville: 38 total cases across 15 different schools
- Halton: 153 total cases across 51 different schools
Note: Halton Region combines its recovery count into one number with probable, now closed cases. This total includes some cases that were not coronavirus recoveries. Halton Region does not release the names of businesses with active outbreaks.
Ontario COVID-19 update
- 5,790 new cases are reported today, shattering the previous record by nearly 1,000 cases
- Ontario's active cases are up more than 4,000 today, and have more than doubled (from 15,500 to over 32,000) in the last six days
- The testing positivity rate in Ontario today is at 16% (the highest ever recorded), meaning nearly 1 in 6 of all PCR tests are coming back positive
- Today's extremely high cases were predicted two days ago by Dr. Kieran Moore, whose provincial modelling said: "We are tracking to have more cases per day than we have ever had in the entire pandemic"
- Indoor and outdoor gatherings are currently capped at 10 and 25 people respectively
- 80.63% of all eligible Ontarians (age 5 and older) are fully vaccinated
A long list of new rules and regulations to fight the spread of the Omicron variant in Ontario is now in effect. The full list of these new measures can be read at this Oakville News story by clicking here.
Summary of provincial vaccinations
- 12.16 million people have received at least one vaccine dose (82.05% of total pop.)
- At least 11.37 million people are fully vaccinated (76.75% of total pop.)
- 26.11 million vaccine doses administered (first, second and third) - plus 253,200
Changes are from figures in our last update. The province released this information on Dec. 23, 2021, as of the end of yesterday.
- 32,412 active cases - plus 4,124
- 440 people hospitalized - plus 20
- 667,353 confirmed cases - plus 5,790
- 624,801 recovered cases - plus 1,659
- 10,140 deaths - plus 7
- 634,941 resolved cases (deaths & recovered) or 95.1%
- 68,191 tests were conducted with a positive rate of 16.0%
- 169 people in ICU - plus 1
- 106 people on ventilators - minus 2
- 46 active, ongoing institutional outbreaks - plus 4
Note: institutional outbreaks count only hospitals, retirement homes and long-term care homes.
Summary of School Cases
- 11,961 total cases in schools - plus 91
- 10,513 student cases - plus 71
- 1,240 staff cases - plus 20
- 1,151 schools with confirmed cases currently - 23.7% of those in Ontario
- 21 schools currently closed - plus 2
Summary of Variants of Concern (VOC)
These numbers are for the number of people who tested positive and further testing confirmed their specific case is one of a particular variant of concern. All totals are only for cases since November 1, 2021.
- 3 cases of the Alpha, Beta or Gamma variants - plus 1
- 15,888 confirmed cases of Delta variant - plus 140
- 995 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant - plus 63
Canadian and Global COVID-19 updates
- Five provinces, including Ontario, Quebec, P.E.I., Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, all report one-day records of new cases today
- Active cases in Canada will almost certainly surpass 100,000 by tomorrow
- There is a national advisory in effect against all non-essential travel
- U.S. health regulators have approved the first COVID-19 pill
- Cumulative global cases of COVID-19 now surpass 275 million people worldwide
Summary of national vaccinations
- 31.60 million people have received at least one vaccine dose (82.63% of total pop.)
- At least 29.34 million people are fully vaccinated (76.73% of total pop.)
- 66.64 million total doses administered - plus 480,000
- 5.68 million booster doses administered
Changes in figures are since the Oakville News update on Dec. 22, 2021. With the high number of cases nationwide and globally, all numbers are approximate (within 0.1% of the total.)
- 98,806 active cases - plus 15,856
- 1,710 active hospitalizations - plus 45
- 1.94 million confirmed cases to date
- 1.81 million recoveries - plus 3,785
- 30,130 deaths - plus 30
- Ranked 85th in global deaths per capita at 80.25 per 100,000 people
US COVID-19 Update
- 51.57 million cumulative cases
- 809,300 deaths - plus 1,903
- 61.7% of the total population is fully vaccinated
- Ranked 20th in global deaths per capita at 247.40 per 100,000 people
World COVID-19 Update
- 276.43 million cases - plus 822,300
- 5.37 million people have died worldwide
- At least 8.85 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide (source: Our World Data)
The evidence is clear: vaccination is the best way to be protected. Local, provincial, national and international health units all affirm the same data that Canada's approved vaccines are effective at protecting you from COVID-19 and significantly reducing your risks of getting sick, going to hospital, and dying from the disease.
Pictured right is a graph from Halton region showing how dramatically your risk of getting sick or being admitted to hospital is when vaccinated.
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