Ontario Is Reporting The Highest Ever Number Of Daily COVID-19 Cases Today

Ontario has reported its highest ever number of daily COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

On December 23, the province reported 5,790 new daily cases of COVID-19 and 7 new deaths for a record-breaking high.

The last time the province saw numbers even close to this was on April 16, 2021, when 4,812 cases were reported, according to the Ontario government website.

The province logged 4,383 cases on December 22 with a seven-day average of 3,520. Today's numbers mark a sharp increase of 1,407 cases in comparison to yesterday's numbers.

As of December 23, 169 people are in the ICU with COVID-19, and according to a tweet from Minister of Health Christine Elliott, "137 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 32 are fully vaccinated."

440 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario, with the majority being individuals who are unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status, with 136 fully vaccinated individuals in hospitals, according to Elliott.

Ontario has been hit with the Omicron variant and has already taken measures to halt the spread through stricter restrictions in restaurants, capacity limits, and social gathering limits.

The Ontario government has also expanded eligibility for booster shots and is giving away free rapid antigen tests through mid-December to mid-January at LCBO's and other locations.

Currently, in Ontario, 81.2% of people five years old and up are fully vaccinated, according to the Ontario government and 86.7% of the age group have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.