Ontario COVID-19 cases dip below 2,000 again

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TORONTO — Daily COVID-19 infections in Ontario have dipped back under 2,000.

The 1,890 cases logged Friday represent a significant decrease over the 2,400 added a day earlier.

With 37,126 tests processed across the province in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the COVID-19 positivity rate is 5.2 per cent.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Ontario has recorded 518,980 lab-confirmed cases of the disease. That number includes 488,201 recoveries and 8,579 deaths.

At least 27 of those deaths were reported in the previous day.

The seven-day average for number of cases reported is 2,064. A week ago, the average was 2,615.

Right now, there are 22,200 active cases of the novel coronavirus in Ontario.

Meanwhile, 1,265 COVID-19 patients remain in hospital, 715 of which are being treated in intensive care.

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

Most of the cases reported by the province Friday were found in Toronto (469), Peel Region (468), and York Region (165).

Case numbers in the triple digits were also found in Hamilton (111) and Durham Region (107).

Ontario is currently under a stay-at-home order which was recently extended and is set to expire on June 2.

On Thursday afternoon, Premier Doug Ford unveiled a three-step reopening plan to ease pandemic restrictions which is set to begin on June 14, starting with outdoor activities.

Update on COVID-19 variants of concern

Another 1,230 cases of the COVID-19 variant known as B.1.1.7 were confirmed in Ontario since Wednesday.

The case total for the mutation, which was first discovered in the U.K., stands at 115,799.

Fifty-three cases of P.1 (Brazilian variant) and seven cases of B.1.351 (South African variant) were also recorded, pushing their case totals to 2,142 and 691, respectively.

The province dose not publicly report the number of B.1.617 (Indian variant) infections.

COVID-19 vaccinations in Ontario

More than 7.7 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across Ontario so far.

At least 158,00 of those needles went into arms on Thursday alone.

The Ministry of Health says that 495,757 people have received both a first and second dose and are considered to be fully vaccinated against the disease.