For the second straight day, Ontario has surpassed its testing goal of 16,000, this time by recording its second highest output throughout the pandemic.
Among 18,525 completed tests, the Ministry of Health was able to identify 344 new cases of COVID-19 in Ontario, setting a positive test rate of 1.9 per cent and increasing the province’s total case count to 27,210.
After a worrisome stretch last week, Ontario is starting to see a positive trend in its COVID-19 fight. As of May 29, Ontario’s seven-day averages are 369 cases out of 13,104 tests. On May 22, the seven-day averages stood at 387 cases out of 11,160 tests.
In an effort to increase testing, Premier Doug Ford said Sunday that anyone in the province can now be investigated for COVID-19 if they feel they need to be. Previously, you needed to have at least one symptom or a history of being in a high-risk setting to qualify for a test.
Over the weekend, health officials started to test both symptomatic and asymptomatic frontline health-care workers, as well as complete a second round of testing in long-term care homes. Chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, said in the past that Ontario doesn’t have a system in place over the weekend to move some of its tests to labs, therefore it’s expected to see an increase later into the workweek.
Along with the new cases, 41 more COVID-19 related deaths have been recorded in the province’s latest 24-hour stretch. It’s the biggest increase since Ontario reported 43 fatalities on May 20.
There are now 20,983 people who have recovered from the respiratory virus, an increase of 310 since Thursday’s update. Among the province’s 3,997 active cases of COVID-19, there are 826 people in hospital (down by seven), which includes 129 in intensive care (down by eight) and 100 on ventilators (up by seven).
According to the Ministry of Long-Term Health, there are 123 outbreaks around the province, down by six. Among those facilities, there are 1,625 residents who have passed away (an increase of 34), while 1,476 people remain currently infected (down by 179). In addition, there are 1,113 active cases among staff members (down by 47), while there remains six who have died.
