TORONTO -- Health officials in Ontario are reporting fewer than 3,000 new cases of COVID-19 for the sixth day in a row.

The 2,584 infections reported Saturday are up from the 2,362 logged a day earlier. Ontario reported 2,759 cases on Thursday and 2,320 on Wednesday.

With 42,320 tests processed in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province’s COVID-19 positivity rate is 6.2 per cent.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Ontario has recorded 507,117 lab-confirmed cases of the disease. At least 471,096 of those cases are considered to be resolved. Twenty-four deaths were also reported since yesterday, pushing the death toll to 8,455.

Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 continue to trend downward with 1,546 patients currently receiving care. This time last week, there were 1,832 people hospitalized.

Of those patients, 785 are being treated in an intensive care unit, a number that has remained high for weeks.

Right now, there are 27,566 active cases of the novel coronavirus in Ontario.

The seven-day average for number of cases reported is 2,576. A week ago, that number was 3,193. 

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

As has been the case throughout the pandemic, most of the cases reported today by the province were found in Toronto (689), Peel Region (584) and York Region (252).

Case counts in the triple digits were also reported in Durham Region (157), Hamilton (115), and Ottawa (108).

Ontario is currently operating under a provincewide stay-at-home order, which was extended by an additional two weeks on Thursday.

The order, which forces the closure of all non-essential businesses and various outdoor recreational amenities, will remain in effect until at least June 2.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams has said that he would like to see fewer than 1,000 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Ontario daily before easing public health restrictions. 

COVID-19 variants in Ontario

In the last 24 hours, the province confirmed 2,179 more cases of the COVID-19 variant known as B.1.1.7.

The province’s case total for the strain, which was first found in the U.K., now stands at 106,043.

Another 107 cases of P.1 (Brazilian variant) were also recorded, pushing the total to 1,853.

Health officials logged 31 more instances of B.1.351 (South African variant), which brings the case total to 625.

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

Update on COVID-19 vaccinations

A record 154,000 needles went into arms on Friday as Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout continues.

Since December, 6.9 million vaccinations have been administered across the province.

The government says that 422,960 people have received both their first and second shots and are considered to be fully vaccinated. 

Backstory:

The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.