Ontario reports fewer than 2,900 new COVID-19 cases as positivity rate continue to dip

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TORONTO — Ontario health officials are reporting fewer than 2,900 new cases of COVID-19 as the province’s positivity rate continues to dip.

The province confirmed 2,864 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday after officials reported infection totals above the 3,000 mark on Thursday and Friday.

The last time the province reported fewer than 3,000 new cases was on Wednesday when officials logged 2,941 new infections. On Tuesday, the province reported 2,791 new infections for the first time in over a month.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 3,193, down from 3,618 at this point last week.

The positivity rate in the province continued to decrease on Saturday. With 47,817 tests processed in the last 24 hours, the positivity rate fell from seven per cent to 6.8 per cent. For most of April and early May, the positivity rate stood above the seven per cent mark.

Health officials also reported that 25 more people have died due to COVID-19. In total, the province has seen 8,261 deaths related to the novel coronavirus.

The number of people in hospital due to COVID-19 continued to decline on Saturday. There are currently 1,832 people in hospital due to the disease. At least 851 of these patients are in intensive care and 588 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The province deemed 3,596 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Saturday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 447,938.

Saturday’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 489,087, including deaths and recoveries.

Where are the COVID-19 cases in Ontario?

Most of the new cases reported are concentrated in hot spot regions in the Greater Toronto Area. Officials reported 803 new cases in Peel Region, 684 new cases in Toronto and 285 new cases in York Region.

Several other regions reported new infection totals in the triple digits, including Hamilton (133), Durham Region (125), Middlesex-London (110), Ottawa (107), and Niagara Region (105).

The Ontario government entered a provincewide stay-at-home order last month in order to curb the spread of the deadly disease. The order is expected to last at least until May 20.

Variants in Ontario

The province reported 2,768 new cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K. variant) in Ontario on Saturday. The total case count for the strain now stands at 89,614.

Officials identified 28 new cases of the B.1.351 (South African variant), bringing total case count in the province to 395.

In addition, the province added 143 more cases of the P.1 (Brazilian variant), which brings its total number of cases to 1,212.

Ontario does not currently report how many cases of the B.1.617 variant, originally found in India, are found in the province.

More than 390K people fully vaccinated in Ontario

The province reports that 390,990 people in Ontario have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and are now considered vaccinated against the disease.

In the last 24-hour period, officials said that 138,125 doses of the vaccine were administered to residents in the province.

The province has repeatedly said they have the capacity to administer about 150,000 vaccines a day.