Ontario reports single-day increase in new COVID-19 cases, records more than 3,400 infections

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TORONTO — Ontario is reporting a single-day increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases, reporting more than 3,400 new infections and 69 additional deaths.

Health officials confirmed 3,422 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of infections in the province to 237,786.

Despite a decrease in testing in the previous 24-hour period, Ontario confirmed nearly 400 more new infections than on Saturday when 3,056 cases were logged.

Ontario completed 60,183 tests in the previous 24-hour time period. According to the government, the test positivity rate is 5.2 per cent.

The 69 new COVID-19-related deaths bring the total number of fatalities to 5,409. There are 3,078 additional cases in the province that are considered resolved.

Officials have said that when more than 300 COVID-19 patients are in intensive care, medical care in hospitals not related to the disease becomes nearly impossible to handle.

Where were Ontario's new COVID-19 cases found?

Of the 3,422 cases reported on Sunday, health officials said that 1,035 were in Toronto, 585 were in Peel Region, and 246 were in York Region.

Several other regions in Ontario reported COVID-19 cases numbers in the triple digits, including Waterloo (144), Niagara Region (186), Ottawa (144), Middlesex-London (166), and Windsor-Essex (254).

In an effort to help curb the spread of the disease, the provincial government ordered a 28-day Ontario-wide lockdown on Dec. 26.

Earlier this week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a second state of emergency and issued a stay-at-home order for the province, which started on Thursday. The order will remain in effect for at least 28 days.

As of Sunday morning, Ontario has administered more than 200,000 intial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.