Ontario reports lowest number of COVID-19 cases in nearly two months with fewer than 1,700 infections logged

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TORONTO — Health officials in Ontario are reporting fewer than 1,700 new cases of COVID-19, marking the lowest single-day total in almost two months.

The 1,616 infections recorded Tuesday represent a significant drop from the 2,170 reported by the province a day earlier.

The last time daily case numbers were this low was on March 24 when 1,571 were logged.

Tuesday’s data is based on the completion of 22,915 tests in the last 24-hour period, which the Ministry of Health says produced a positivity rate of 7.6 per cent.

Ontario’s seven-day average for number of cases reported is 2,287, down from the 2,914 reported a week ago.

At least 513,102 cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in Ontario, including 479,630 recoveries and 8,506 deaths.

Seventeen of those COVID-19-related fatalities were reported since yesterday, pushing the national death toll to 25,000.

Right now, there are 24,966 active cases of COVID-19 across Ontario.

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

As has been the case throughout the pandemic, most of the infections reported Tuesday were found in Toronto (472), Peel Region (360), and York Region (116).

The province also reported case counts in the triple digits in Hamilton (114) and Durham Region (102).

Ontario is currently placed under a stay-at-home order, which is set to expire on June 2.

Under the order, all non-essential businesses and most outdoor recreational amenities have been closed for more than a month.

However, Health Minister Christine Elliott said during Question Period Monday that the government will reopen those amenities, including golf courses and basketball courts, “on or before June 2.”

Update on COVID-19 variants

Another 2,155 cases of the COVID-19 variant known as B1.1.7 were confirmed in the last 24 hours.

The case total for the variant, which was first discovered in the U.K., stands at 110,956.

Ten cases of P.1 (Brazilian variant) and two cases of B.1.351 (South African variant) were also flagged, pushing their case totals to 2,031 and 681, respectively.

The province does not currently report the number of B.1.617 (Indian variant) cases in the province.

COVID-19 vaccinations in Ontario

More than 7.1 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered over the course of the province’s vaccination campaign and 112,000 of those needles went into arms yesterday alone.

So far, 432,760 people have received both their first and second shots and are considered to be fully vaccinated.

As of Tuesday, any Ontario resident over the age of 18 is now eligible to book a vaccination appointment.