Ontario reports decrease in daily COVID-19 cases for second day after record high

A man walks by a COVID-19 assessment centre by appointment only at the Michael Garron Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Thursday, October 8, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

TORONTO — Ontario is reporting another 649 cases of COVID-19 one day after the province surpassed 3,000 deaths related to the disease.

The new infections represent a significant decrease from the 809 cases reported on Saturday and Friday’s record-high 939 cases.

One more death was confirmed on Sunday, bringing the total death toll related to COVID-19 to 3,005.

Of those who died after contracting the disease, 12 were people between the ages of 20 and 39 while 125 were between the ages of 40 and 59.

At least 799 people between the ages of 60 and 79 have died after being diagnosed with COVID-19 and 2,068 more deaths were logged in those over the age of 80.

The newest deceased patient fell in the over 80 age group.

While seniors continue to be the demographic hardest hit by the disease, the majority of Sunday’s new infections were recorded in people between the ages of 20 and 60. Four hundred and fifty five people within that age group tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours.

According to the province’s epidemiology report, 94 of Sunday’s cases were in people under the age of 19 and 101 were in people over the age of 60.

There are currently 217 people being treated for COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals, although the province said that about 35 facilities did not submit data for Oct. 9.

Of those patients recorded, 51 were being treated in the intensive care unit and 32 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The total number of lab-confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Ontario now stands at 59,139, including the 3,005 deaths and 50,437 recoveries.

The seven-day rolling average of new cases in the province now stands at 706.

Where are the COVID-19 cases?

Peel Region logged the most infections in the last 24-hour period with 157 new cases. There were 140 cases in Toronto, 97 in York Region and 54 in Ottawa.

Halton Region recorded 39 cases of the disease, while Hamilton logged 35 and Durham Region confirmed 29.

In the last 24 hours, Ontario officials conducted a little over 44,100 COVID-19 tests. The backlog of tests appears to be decreasing slightly, with 45,837 now under investigation.

The Ontario government will not be releasing any COVID-19 data tomorrow due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Monday’s numbers will be reported on Tuesday.