More COVID records broken with 792 new cases in Durham, including 178 in Ajax

The day after breaking new ground with 721 new COVID-19 cases, Durham Region set another record with 792 positive tests Thursday, bringing the active case count as we ring in the new year to 4,903.

Hospital cases remain at four with one person in ICU.

Ajax reported the highest number of new cases at 178, with Whitby reporting 169 and Oshawa 160. Clarington (119) and Pickering (111) also reported more than 100 cases yesterday, with Uxbridge (17), Scugog (14), Brock Township (8) and unknown address (11) rounding out the totals.

More than 1,800 of the active cases are presumed to be from the Omicron variant.

There are 17 institutional outbreaks in Durham affecting 29 people. (Those numbers don’t count staff at eight facilities who tested positive but don’t live in the region.) Westney Gardens in Ajax (11) and Port Perry Place (7) currently have the largest outbreaks among the retirement homes.

Eight child care centres have reported outbreaks and there are now 11 workplace outbreaks, including five in office locations.