TORONTO -- Ontario health officials recorded more than 1,500 new COVID-19 infections in the province on Monday, marking another new record in the daily-reported number of cases in the province.
Health officials confirmed 1,589 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday. This is the third straight day in which the province has reported case counts above the 1,500 mark. On Saturday, the province logged the previous record-breaking 1,588 new cases and on Sunday, the province logged 1,534 new cases.
The province also reported on Monday that 19 more people have died due to COVID-19, marking an uptick in the number of deaths from a day earlier when health officials reported 14 new deaths.
Seniors continue to be the age group hardest hit by the pandemic. According to the province’s epidemiology report, 11 of the 19 deaths recorded on Monday were people living in long-term care homes.
Since the pandemic started in January, of the 3,505 people who have died in Ontario due to the disease, 2,432 were over the age of 80.
Provincial health officials deemed 1,484 more cases to be resolved as of Monday, bringing the total number of recovered patients in Ontario to 88,992.
The total number of lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario now stands at 105,501, including the 3,505 deaths and the 88,992 recoveries.
There are at least 507 people currently in Ontario hospitals due to COVID-19, and 156 of those patients are in an intensive care unit. Ninety-two of them are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.
The province previously stated that once the number of COVID-19 patients in the ICU reaches 150, it becomes harder to support medical needs not related to the disease. Furthermore, once 350 COVID-19 patients are in the ICU in the province, it becomes “impossible” to handle other medical needs.
Where are the COVID-19 cases in Ontario?
Ontario's three COVID-19 hot spots continue to be the most impacted regions in the province. On Monday, Peel Region reported 535 new cases, Toronto reported 336 new cases and York Region reported 205.
Toronto and Peel Region entered the province’s lockdown phase on Monday, which is the final category in the province’s COVID-19 tiered framework that guides restrictions.
Most non-essential businesses, including gyms, malls and personal care services, will have to shutter in the two COVID-19 hot spots for at least 28 days.
Several other regions in Ontario reported COVID-19 cases numbers in the double digits.
Waterloo reported 83 new cases, Hamilton reported 61 new cases, Halton reported 53 new cases, Windsor-Essex reported 56 new cases, Durham Region reported 41 new cases, Ottawa reported 40 new cases and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph reported 30 new cases.
Most of the new cases of COVID-19 reported on Monday involve people under the age of 80.
There were 625 infections in people between the ages of 20 and 39, at least 447 in people between the ages of 40 and 59 and 218 in people between the ages of 60 and 79. There were 214 cases in people under the age of 19.
COVID-19 testing in Ontario
Officials processed 37,471 COVID-19 tests in the last 24 hours. The ministry of health said the province’s positivity rate now stands at about 4.6 per cent when including duplicate tests and errors.
There are 18,394 COVID-19 tests still under investigation.
In total, Ontario has processed more than 5.9 million tests since the pandemic began in January
