Ontario records another dip in COVID-19 cases but adds 84 new deaths

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TORONTO — Ontario has recorded another dip in COVID-19 cases but has added 84 new deaths, according to the province's health officials.

Health officials reported 370 new cases of the virus on Monday, the lowest number in a single-day since April 29 when a three-week low was recorded.

The total number of confirmed cases in the province now stands at 17,923. Ontario has recorded 1,300 COVID-19 deaths.

According to Monday’s epidemiological summary, of all deceased patients in Ontario, seven were between the ages of 20 and 39, 57 people were between the ages of 40 and 59 and 327 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 909 people in this age group of have died.

There are currently 212 COVID-19 outbreaks at long-term care homes, according to the province.

The province also reported that 12,505 of COVID-19 cases in Ontario have now been resolved.

The province reported that 2,761 health-care workers have also been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Health officials reported on Sunday 434 new COVID-19 cases, which was a slight drop from the 511 announced on Saturday.

The drop in cases comes as the province reopened a small number of businesses on Monday. Here's a list of the businnesses that were allowed to reopen today.

Quick facts on all Ontario COVID-19 patients:

COVID-19 testing in Ontario

In total, the province has conducted more than 342,060 tests for the novel coronavirus.

In the last 24-hour period to be recorded, officials conducted 14,555 tests.

“A few weeks ago, on April 10, I stood at this podium and promised you that we were going to ramp up our testing. We set a target of 16,000 tests per day by May 6 and thanks to our incredible team, thanks to the hard working folks in our health system, we beat that target,” Premier Doug Ford said at Queen’s Park on Monday afternoon during his daily news conference.

“Just over 20 days later, by May 1, we hit 17,000 tests a day. The good news is we are leading the country in daily testing volumes, both in total tests and per capita.”

Ford said “these gains are significant,” but “we still have a lot of work to do.”

“We remain laser-focused on ensuring we are testing our most vulnerable,” he said, adding that the province has “rapidly increased” testing in long-term care homes, group homes, homeless shelters, women’s shelters, and other congregate settings.

This increase in testing gives the Ontario government the confidence to start reopening the economy, Ford said.

There are currently 6,265 test samples under investigation.