Ontario health officials report 434 new COVID-19 cases and 40 more deaths

Paramedics disinfect medical equipment after transporting a patient to the emergency department at a hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Thursday, April 30, 2020. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

TORONTO — Ontario health officials are reporting another slight dip in the number of new novel coronavirus cases.

Health officials reported on Sunday 434 new COVID-19 cases, which is a slight drop from the 511 announced just the day before.

The total number of confirmed cases in the province now stands at 17,553.

The volume of new cases reported Sunday is similar to what had been reported last week before the slight uptick on Saturday.

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.

The provincial experts also reported 40 more deaths, bringing the total number of deaths in the province to 1,216.

According to Saturday’s epidemiological summary, of all deceased patients in Ontario, seven were between the ages of 20 and 39, fifty-five people were between the ages of 40 and 59 and 309 people were between the ages of 60 and 79.

People, who are over the age of 80, continue to be the hardest hit group. So far, at least 845 people in this age group of have died.

The province also reported that 12,005 (68.4 per cent) of COVID-19 cases in Ontario have now been resolved.

Of the more than 17,000 COVID-19 lab-confirmed cases reported in Ontario, health officials say about 12.0 per cent have been hospitalized at some point.

As of Saturday, there are 1,010 people in hospital, 33 more than the day before. The province reported that 232 of those patients are in the intensive care unit and about 174 of them are using a ventilator.

The province reported that 2,640 health-care workers have also been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Health officials said there are four more outbreaks at long-term care homes in Ontario, bringing the total number of COVID-19 outbreaks in these facilities to 209.

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 954 deaths and 170 outbreaks in long-term care, the iPHIS is reporting the 209 outbreaks and 590 deaths.

Quick facts on all Ontario COVID-19 patients:

COVID-19 testing in Ontario

In total, the province has conducted more than 327,505 tests for the novel coronavirus.

In the last 24 hours, officials conducted 17,146 tests. There are 9,785 test samples under investigation. The province’s goal was to reach 16,000 tests daily by May 6.