Ontario reports 798 new COVID-19 cases Thursday as more students head back to class

Ontario reported another 798 cases of COVID-19 Thursday, asstudents in the Toronto, Peel, York and Durham boards head back to class.

The province also reported 10 more deaths, however the Ontario Ministry of Health said of those, seven deaths occurred more than a month ago and were added to the daily count due to a "data cleanup."

The new cases include159 casesin Toronto, 73 in Peel Region, 72 each in Ottawa and York Region, 66 in Windsor-Essex, 55 in Hamilton, 38 in Niagara Region and 37 in Simcoe-Muskoka.

Of thecases reportedwith a known vaccination status:

• 497, or 62.2per cent, were in unvaccinated people.
• 57, or 7.1 per cent, had a single dose.
• 178, or 22.3 per cent, had two doses.

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford appeared virtually atthe Toronto Global Summit on Thursday, without taking any questions from the media. Ford has held just one news conference in approximately the last six weeks.

Speaking at the summit, Ford praised vaccine certificates, calling them"another step to ensure we don't need to return to lockdowns."

Here are some key pandemic indicators and figures for Thursday from theMinistry of Health's daily provincial update:

Seven-day average of daily cases: 723.

Tests completed in the last 24 hours: 29,684.

Provincewide test positivity rate: 3.1 per cent.

Active cases: 6,056.

Patients in ICUwith COVID-related illnesses: 185, with 99needinga ventilator to breathe.

Deaths: 10 more deaths, pushing the death toll to 9,579.

Vaccinations: 38,391doses of COVID-19 vaccinewere administered by public health units on Thursday. About 77.5per cent of eligible Ontarians, or those aged 12 and older, have now had two doses.