COVID-19 cases in Ontario on the rise as new highly-mutated variant emerges – CTV
Aug. 23, 2023
After months of declining cases, Ontario public health data is showing an uptick of COVID-19 cases this summer.
“Every single year in Canada, since the emergence of COVID-19, we’ve seen a rise in the community burden of COVID-19 as summer enters fall season and to no one’s surprise we’re going to see the same thing this year,” said infectious diseases specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch.
While in May, the World Health Organization declared and an end to the COVID-19 emergency — the virus did not go away.
Waste water and test data are still collected, and since the end of July in Ontario — cases appear to be on the rise.
Last August, the percentage of tests coming back positive was moderate at 13.4 per cent, then moved to its highest point over the past 12 months in January at 17.1 per cent. Right now, test positivity is considered low at 7.2 per cent.
