Health officials are reporting 1,707 new cases of COVID-19 in Ontario today, which is down a little compared to yesterday. It also marks the third straight day the province has been below 1,800 new daily cases. However, it is higher than the seven day average.
Nearly half of the new infections came in Toronto, with 727 new cases reported today. That's a new one day high and more than 100 cases higher than yesterday. Peel Region and York Region, the other two hot spots, both recorded slight decreases.
34,600 tests were completed in the province, with the percent of tests coming back positive at 4.9%, according to our math. That's higher than yesterday and also above the weekly average of 4.1%.
Sadly, seven new deaths have been reported, with six of those in long term care. All seven deaths are in people who are 60 and older.
For the second straight day, we've seen a sharp increase in the number of people in hospital. There's now 645 people in hospital, an increase of 27 compared to yesterday. The number of people in ICU also rose by 17 to 185. Those needing a ventilator is up four to 112.
The number of active cases continues to grow in the province, with more than 14,500 people currently infected with COVID-19 in Ontario.