Officials report 511 new COVID-19 cases and 55 more deaths in Ontario

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TORONTO — Ontario health officials are reporting 511 new cases of COVID-19 and 55 more deaths in the province.

The data reported on Saturday brings the total number of novel coronavirus cases in Ontario to 17,119, including 1,176 deaths and 11,390 recoveries.

Health officials reported that 66.5 per cent of cases in Ontario have now been resolved.

The number of new confirmed cases reported represents a slight uptick compared to the last few days. Officials reported 421 new cases on Friday, 459 new cases on Thursday and 347 new cases on Wednesday, which marked the lowest number of cases recorded in three weeks.

According to Saturday’s epidemiological summary, most of the deaths, 37, were residents and patients in long-term care homes, bringing the total number deaths in these facilities to 578.

DAILY BREAKDOWN: The spread of COVID-19 in Ontario

Health officials, in the summary, said that of all deceased patients in Ontario, seven were between the ages of 20 and 39. They also said that 52 people were between the ages of 40 and 59 and 302 people were between the ages of 60 and 79.

People who are over the age of 80 have been hit the hardest. So far, at least 815 people in this age group of have died.

The province reported seven more outbreaks at long-term care homes in Ontario, bringing the total number of COVID-19 outbreaks in these facilities to 205.

There has been an ongoing discrepancy between the data submitted by public health agencies through Public Health Ontario Daily Epidemiologic Summary (iPHIS) and the information obtained by the Ministry of Long-Term Care. While the ministry is reporting 910 deaths and 167 outbreaks in long-term care, the iPHIS is reporting the 205 outbreaks and 578 deaths.

The province reported that 2,540 health-care workers have also been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Of the more than 17,000 COVID-19 lab-confirmed cases reported in Ontario, health officials say about 11.6 per cent have been hospitalized at some point.

As of Saturday, there are 977people in hospital, 221 are in the intensive care unit and about 154 of them are using a ventilator.

Quick facts on all Ontario COVID-19 patients:

COVID-19 testing in Ontario

In total, the province has conducted more than 310,359 tests for the novel coronavirus.

In the last 24 hours, officials conducted 16,305 tests. There are 12,829 test samples under investigation. The province’s goal was to reach 16,000 tests daily by May 6.