Ontario breaks another record for number of new COVID-19 cases

Ontario sets another record for COVID-19 cases Ontario has marked another grim milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic, recording the highest number of new cases in a single day.

TORONTO — Ontario has broken another record for the number of new COVID-19 cases reported in a single day.

Health officials confirmed 1,859 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, which is four more infections than the previous record set on Nov. 27.

Ontario also set a new testing record, processing 59,400 swabs in the previous day. This leaves Ontario's test positivity rate at 3.1 per cent.

As of Saturday morning, there are 709 patients in an Ontario hospital with COVID-19, which is an increase since Friday.

At least 202 of those patients are currently being treated in intensive care, down from the 207 patients reported a day earlier. Of those patients, 116 are currently breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

Twenty more deaths related to COVID-19 were recorded in the last 24 hours, pushing the province's COVID-19 death toll to 3,757. Of the new deaths on Saturday, 13 were long-term care home residents.

There are 1,624 more cases are now considered to be resolved. More than 106,000 people infected with COVID-19 in Ontario have recovered since the beginning of the pandemic.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Ontario now stands at 125,385, including deaths and recoveries.

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

Most of the new cases were recorded in Toronto and Peel Region, with 504 and 463 infections added respectively.

Both regions are currently in lockdown because of their escalating case numbers, which forced the closure of most non-essential businesses nearly two weeks ago.

York Region also reported 198 new cases on Saturday.

The regions reporting more than 10 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday include Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Eastern  Ontario Health Unit, Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health, Durham Region, Simcoe Muskoka, Middlesex-London, Southwestern Public Health Unit, Windsor-Essex, Hamilton, Halton Region, and Niagara Region.

The majority of new COVID-19 cases reported on Saturday are in people under the age of 40.