Ontario records more than 2,300 new COVID-19 cases, 27 deaths

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TORONTO — Ontario has logged more than 2,300 new cases of COVID-19, as well as 27 more deaths.

Provincial health officials recorded 2,357 new infections of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, which is a slight increase from the 2,290 cases logged on Friday.

Before that, 2,432 new cases were confirmed on Thursday, 2,139 on Wednesday and 2,275 on Tuesday.

The province’s seven-day average for number of cases recorded is now 2,158.

Saturday’s case count brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 153,614, including deaths and recoveries.

With the 27 new deaths confirmed by health officials on Saturday, Ontario’s death toll is now 4,125. Of the deaths recorded on Saturday, at least nine were residents of long-term care homes.

Health officials deemed 1,992 more cases across the province to be resolved as of Saturday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 131,282.

There are currently 18,207 active cases of the novel coronavirus in the province.

According to the province, there are at least 895 patients infected with COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals. Of those patients, 256 are in the intensive care unit and 146 of those 256 patients are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

Most of the new infections logged on Saturday are in the province’s lockdown regions.

There were 665 new cases found in Toronto, 448 in Peel Region, 174 in York Region, 170 in Windsor-Essex County, and 118 in Hamilton.

Other municipalities that recorded more than 50 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday include Durham Region (104), Simcoe-Muskoka (67), Middlesex-London (93), Halton (72), Niagara Region (118), and Waterloo (83).

On Friday, Premier Doug Ford announced that Hamilton will be under lockdown as of Monday. He also said lockdown orders in Toronto and Peel Region will be extended until at least Jan. 4 and reassessed.

Earlier this week, York Region and Windsor-Essex entered lockdown.

Since the start of the pandemic, 7.3 million COVID-19 tests have been completed in Ontario.

There were 67,207 tests completed in the province in the last-recorded 24-hour period.

The province’s positivity rate now stands at 4.2 per cent, up from 3.9 per cent on Friday, according to the Ministry of Health.

There are currently 78,147 tests under investigation in the province.