Ontario reported 653 new cases of COVID-19 after completing a record-high 46,254 tests.
The 1.4 per cent positivity rate is among the top five highest the province has recorded since June. It’s also now the sixth-straight day that Ontario has surpassed the 500-daily case mark, which it had not previously hit since May 2.
Of the recent group of 653 patients, 284 were identified in Toronto, 104 in Peel and 97 in Ottawa, which have been deemed the province’s hotspots, and will face new gathering restrictions starting Saturday. There were also 50 cases identified in York, 18 in Waterloo, 16 in Hamilton, and 12 each in both Halton and Niagara. The remaining 26 public health units reported 10 or fewer, while eight reported no new patients at all.
Four more people have died in the past 24 hours in Ontario, but the Ministry of Health also announced 37 additional fatalities that were added to the death toll due to a data remediation.
Since 435 more people have recovered, there are now 5,380 active cases across Ontario, the most since April 28, when the province was at the peak of its first wave.
Toronto currently leads the way with 2,178 currently infected patients, followed by Peel (992), Ottawa (861) and York (429). The remaining 30 public health units have fewer than 125 active cases.
Of the province’s 5,203 currently infected patients, there are 155 people in hospital, down by 12 since Friday. That includes 41 in intensive care and 23 who require a ventilator, the most since July 1 and July 21, respectively.
Of the recent 653 cases, 322 of them were among people between 20-39 years old, the most of any age group. There were also 157 new cases among those 40-59 and 99 among those 19 and under. Forty-one cases involve long-term care residents, while of the 41 fatalities added to the death toll on Saturday, 39 involve LTC patients.
