Ontario reported another 1,822 cases of COVID-19 and 29 more deaths linked to the illness on Saturday.
The new cases include 566 in Toronto, 516 in Peel Region and 145 in York Region. Hamilton and Waterloo saw 105 and 102 additional cases, respectively.
Other public health units that saw double-digit increases were:
- Halton: 68.
- Windsor-Essex: 57.
- Durham Region: 48.
- Ottawa: 46.
- Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 25.
- Niagara Region: 21.
- Simcoe Muskoka: 21.
- Middlesex-London: 20.
- Eastern Ontario: 13.
- Huron Perth: 11.
- Grey Bruce: 10.
- Thunder Bay: 10.
(Note: All of the figures used in this story are found on the Ontario health ministry’s COVID-19 dashboard or in its daily epidemiologic summary. The number of cases for any region may differ from what is reported by the local public health unit because local units report figures at different times.)
The newly confirmed infections push the seven-day average up to 1,523, the highest it has been since the outbreak began in late January. The numbers come after the province set a single-day record for new cases on Friday.
There are currently 13,538 confirmed, active cases of COVID-19 provincewide, a number that is also a new record high.
Meanwhile, Ontario’s network of labs processed 55,086 test samples for the novel coronavirus and reported a test positivity rate of 3.4 per cent. More than 56,000 tests were added to the queue to be completed. Public health officials said recently that they hope to build capacity in the system for up to 100,000 tests daily.
The number of people in Ontario hospitals with confirmed cases of the illness jumped 54, up to 595 — nearly double the number one month ago. Those being treated in intensive care increased by four to 155, while those on ventilators dropped slightly to 99.
The additional deaths in Saturday’s update push the official toll to 3,624. So far this month, 479 people with COVID-19 have died in the province.
5 regions moving into more restrictive zones
The provincial government announced yesterday that five more regions will move into more restrictive zones starting at 12:01 a.m. Monday:
- Red-Control
- Windsor-Essex County Health Unit
- Orange-Restrict
- Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit
- Yellow-Protect
- Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
- Lambton Public Health
- Northwestern Health Unit
