TORONTO

Ontario records fewer than 100 new COVID-19 cases for third straight day

Miriam Katawazi CTVNewsToronto.ca Journalist

Published Wednesday, August 5, 2020 10:25AM EDT Last Updated Wednesday, August 5, 2020 10:47AM EDT

Employees work at the Canadian Hospital Specialities (CHS) helping take dual COVID-19 testing swab kits and separating them into two units to help with swab capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Oakville, Ont., on Monday, June 8, 2020. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

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TORONTO -- Ontario health officials are reporting fewer than 100 new cases of COVID-19 for a third straight day.

Provincial health officials confirmed 86 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday after 88 were reported on Monday and 91 were reported on Tuesday.

The three days of lower case counts come after a spike this past weekend when more than 100 cases were reported on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Last week, the province logged fewer than 100 cases for the first time since the end of March, and this week’s numbers so far are continuing the momentum.

The province also reported zero new deaths related to the disease on Wednesday.

The total number of lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario now stands at 39,714, including 2,782 deaths and 35,747 recoveries.

The majority of Wednesday’s COVID-19 patients are between the ages of 20 and 59. According to the province’s epidemiology report, 54 of the cases were found within that demographic.

The report stated that 14 of the new cases involved people over the age of 60, and 16 of them were 19 years old and younger.

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said that 29 of the province’s 34 public health units have reported five or fewer new cases of the disease on Tuesday, with 22 of them reporting no new cases at all.

Of the new cases reported on Wednesday, 11 of the new cases were found in Peel Region, 10 were found in York Region, 18 were found in Toronto, and two were found in Windsor-Essex, a region that has grappled with outbreaks among migrant workers.

Other regions reporting more than 10 novel coronavirus patients on Wednesday included Ottawa (16) and Chatham-Kent (14).

Both Peel Region and Toronto moved to Stage 3 of the province’s economic reopening plan on Friday.

Windsor-Essex is the only region in Ontario that has remained in Stage 2.

There are 66 people currently being treated for COVID-19 in a hospital. Of those patients, 30 are in the intensive care unit and 15 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

COVID-19 testing in Ontario

More than 2.2 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Ontario since the virus reached Ontario in late January.

In the last 24 hours, a little more than 17,000 tests were conducted.

As of 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 16,407 test samples are still under investigation.