Ontario marks two weeks where daily COVID-19 case count surpasses 100

Ontario's COVID-19 caseload increases by 149 Ontario labs detected 149 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, along with no new deaths.

TORONTO — Ontario logged another 149 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, marking two full weeks where the daily number of recorded infections has surpassed 100.

The last time the case count dipped into the double digits was on Aug. 26.

The new cases represent a slight decline from the 185 infections recorded on Tuesday and the 190 on Monday. However, provincial testing also saw a decrease over the last 24 hours.

Of the new cases reported on Wednesday, more than half were reported in the Greater Toronto Area.

According to the province’s epidemiology report, 50 of the new infections were in Toronto, 41 were in Peel Region and 13 were in York Region.

Ottawa reported 16 new COVID-19 cases and is the only region outside of the GTA to report more than 10 new infections on Tuesday.

Most of the new infections in Ontario were in people between the ages of 20 and 39. Officials logged 76 cases within that age group compared to the 36 in people between the ages of 40 and 59 and nine in people between the ages of 60 and 79.

Twenty-seven of the cases were in people under the age of 20.

There are 55 people being treated in the hospital for COVID-19. Fifteen of those patients are in the intensive care unit while eight are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

No new deaths were reported on Wednesday.

The total number of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in the province now stands at 43,685, including 2,813 deaths and 36,332 recoveries.

Just over 17,600 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, a decrease from the 23,725 on Tuesday and 21,000 on Monday. Ontario’s net positivity rate has therefore remained at about 0.85 per cent over the past three days.

There are more than 20,000 tests that remain under investigation.

The new cases come a day after the Ontario government said it will take "a pause of four weeks" before considering any further loosening of public health measures or further reopening of businesses, facilities or organizations.

"We did not make this decision lightly," Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said on Tuesday.

"We are really concentrating on getting all of our students back to school safely and having them remain healthy but the reality is that spread in the community will also likely mean spread in the schools, so we need to limit the spread in the community as much as possible."

All of Ontario remains under Stage 3 of the province’s economic reopening plan. Under this stage, most businesses have been allowed to reopen and gatherings of 100 people outside and 50 people inside are permitted as long as physical distancing is in place.

Individuals are still not allowed to meet up with those outside their 10-person social circle without remaining at least two metres apart.