Ontario reports lowest COVID-19 positivity rate since end of February

Two Ont. party leaders test positive for COVID-19 Positive COVID-19 tests have forced Ont. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and Ont. Green Leader Mike Schreiner to campaign remotely.

Ontario is reporting another 13 deaths related to COVID-19 as the positivity rate in the province continues to slowly decline.

On Saturday, officials said that just over 12,000 PCR tests have yielded a positivity rate of about 8.9 per cent. This is the lowest positivity rate the province has seen since the end of February.

The majority of Ontario residents cannot be properly tested for COVID-19 due to restrictions put in place by the government.

Wastewater data provided by the province’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table appears to show a continued decline in infection in most regions, although northern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area appear to be seeing a small uptick.

Twelve of the 13 COVID-19 deaths have occurred over the last month while the remaining case was added to the cumulative total due to data catchup.

In total, 13,159 people have lost their lives after contracting the disease.

Officials say there are 1,116 people in hospital with the novel coronavirus, including 160 in intensive care.

Just under half of ICU patients are being treated for COVID-19 while the remaining patients tested positive after being admitted for other ailments.

Nearly 39 per cent of all hospitalizations are the direct result of a COVID-19 diagnosis.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Ontario has logged 1,294,447 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19.