Ontario reports highest number of new COVID-19 cases since early June

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TORONTO — Ontario is reporting another spike in COVID-19 cases, logging the highest number of new infections since early June.

Health officials reported 689 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, which is the highest number of infections in a single day since June 5.

Saturday's increase comes after 650 new cases were reported on Friday, 531 infections were logged Thursday, and 485 new cases were added Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Ontario reported nearly half of Saturday's case count, with 350 new infections added.

Ontario's rolling seven-day average, which has been climbing steadily for several weeks, now stands at 534.

The province also logged one additional COVID-19-related fatality, bringing the total number of deaths to 9,451.

On Saturday, 552 cases were in people not fully vaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status. There were 137 cases in fully vaccinated people.

Ontario's test positivity rate also increased on Saturday to 2.7 per cent, with more than 26,000 tests performed in the previous 24-hour period.

The province says 212 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 130 people in intensive care. Of those 130 people, 123 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status. Seven are fully vaccinated.

The province deemed 475 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Saturday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 544,679.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 558,790, including deaths and recoveries.

Ontario is currently in Step 3 of its reopening plan. On Tuesday, health officials said the province is putting the brakes on any further reopening ahead of a "difficult fall and winter" due to the Delta variant.

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 130 new cases in Toronto, 94 new cases in Peel Region, 86 new cases in York Region, 36 new cases Durham Region and 28 new cases in Halton Region.

The province reports that 9,731,926 people in Ontario have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and are now considered fully vaccinated against the disease.

In the last 24-hour period, officials said 46,629 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 20.4 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.