TORONTO -- Ontario health officials are recording the highest number of new COVID -19 cases in more than a week.

Officials confirmed an additional 170 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, saying that 86 people infected are from Windsor-Essex, a region that has been grappling with outbreaks among migrant workers.

The number of new cases is a significant jump from the 118 cases reported on Wednesday and the 112 cases reported on Tuesday. 

Thursday’s new patients also mark the highest number of new COVID-19 cases recorded since June 29, when officials confirmed an additional 257 new infections, with 177 of those cases also from the Windsor-Essex area.

The province also reported that three more people have died due to COVID-19. At the start of the week, the province had recorded zero deaths for the first time in months.

Since late March, more than 2,000 people have died due to the novel coronavirus. During the peak period, the province saw dozens of deaths each day.

The recent infections bring Ontario’s total number of lab-confirmed cases of the disease to 36,348, including 2,703 deaths and 31,977 recoveries.

Where are the COVID-19 cases?

Ontario Health Minister Christine said that 30 of the province’s 34 public health units have reported five or fewer new cases of the disease on Thursday, with 20 of them reporting no new cases at all.

She said that most the new cases reported are from the Windsor-Essex area as “targeted testing” of temporary workers on farms in the area continue.

According to Thursday’s epidemiology report, 28 of the new cases were found in Peel Region, seven were found in York Region and 27 were found in Toronto.

Of the new cases in Ontario, 127 are between the ages of 20 and 59. There are 20 patients who are 19 years old or younger and 22 patients who are over the age of 59.

The majority of total deaths to date have been reported in people over the age of 70. One person under the age of 19 who had COVID-19 has died in Ontario, but it is not clear if the death was caused by the disease or other health issues.

Eleven patients who died were between the ages of 20 and 39, while 110 were between the ages of 40 and 59, and 719 were between the ages of 60 and 79.

More than 1,800 people over the age of 80 have died of the disease, many of whom lived in long-term care homes.

As of Thursday, there were 123 people in the hospital due to COVID-19. Thirty-one of those patients are in the intensive care unit and 23 of them are breathing with the assistance of ventilators.

COVID-19 testing in Ontario

In the last 24 hours, just over 26,000 COVID-19 tests were conducted by officials.

Ontario health officials have conducted more than 1.6 million tests for the disease since the pandemic was declared.

More than 21,000 tests are still under investigation.