Ontario reports 1,822 new cases of COVID-19, 29 more deaths

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.
• Gray Bruce: 10.
• Thunder Bay: 10.

(Note: All figures used in this story can be found on the Ontario Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard or in its daily epidemiological summary. The number of cases for each region may differ from what the health unit reported. at different times.)

Recently confirmed infections push the seven-day average to 1,523, the highest since the outbreak began in late January. The numbers come after the province set a one-day record for new cases on Friday.

There are currently 13,538 confirmed and active cases of COVID-19 across the province, a number that is also a new record.

Meanwhile, Ontario’s network of labs processed 55,086 test samples for the novel coronavirus and reported a positive test rate of 3.4%. More than 56,000 tests have been added to the queue to be completed. Public health officials recently said they hope to develop the system’s capacity for up to 100,000 tests per day.

The number of people in Ontario hospitals with confirmed cases of the disease jumped to 54, to 595, nearly double from a month ago. Those in ICU increased four to 155, while those with 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 that move to more restrictive areas

The provincial government announced yesterday that five more regions will move to more restrictive areas starting at 12:01 on 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