Ontario logs more than 1,500 new COVID-19 cases over two-day period

Ontario COVID-19 case count continues to climb Ontario is reporting a combined 1,553 new COVID-19 cases over the last two days despite new restrictions by the province.

TORONTO — Ontario is reporting a combined 1,553 new COVID-19 cases over the last two days.

The number of cases includes 807 infections logged, but not released, on the Thanksgiving holiday Monday and 746 recorded on Tuesday.

The province also confirmed another 12 deaths related to the disease, with at least seven of them categorized as long-term care residents. Three of those deaths were recorded on Monday and nine were logged on Tuesday.

The last time the province recorded nine COVID-19 deaths in a single day was in mid-July.

The majority of those who have died after contracting the novel coronavirus are people over the age of 80, with 2,077 deaths recorded in total since the beginning March. Eleven others were between the ages of 20 and 39 while 125 were between the ages of 40 and 59 and 803 were between the ages of 60 and 79.

According to the province’s epidemiology report, most of the cases reported in the last two days were found in people between the ages of 20 and 59.

Of the 1,553 infections logged on Monday and Tuesday, 1,079 fall within that age group. Two hundred and forty-four were under the age of 20 while 233 were over the age of 60.

There are currently 230 people being treated for COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals. Of those patients, 60 are in the intensive care unit and 34 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The new cases bring the total number of lab-confirmed COVID-19 infections in Ontario to 60,692, including 3,017 deaths and 51,729 recoveries.

"It looks we are now plateauing around the low or mid 700s with some blips up and down,"  Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said Tuesday.

Williams said that while the numbers "may be encouraging," he noted that it is likely too early to know for certain.

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

In total over the last two days, 614 of the new COVID-19 cases were located in Toronto.

There were also 294 infections in Peel Region, 235 in Ottawa and 98 in York Region.

Toronto, Ottawa and Peel Region reverted back to a modified Stage 2 of the province’s economic reopening plan over the weekend. Indoor dining at restaurants has been halted and facilities such as gyms, cinemas and gaming centres have been closed.

In a post to social media Tuesday morning, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said that more than 67,700 COVID-19 tests were completed in the two-day period.

A little more than 31,200 of those tests were conducted in the last 24 hours. There is a backlog of more than 24,400 tests in Ontario.