TORONTO -- Ontario has reported a significant spike in the number of new COVID-19 cases, breaking another grim record for the most infections in a single day.
Health officials confirmed 978 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, which is higher than the previous record of 939 set back on Oct. 9.
The majority of cases were found in Ontario's four COVID-19 hotspots, which are currently in a modified Stage 2. There are 348 new cases in Toronto, 170 in Peel Region, 141 in York Region and 89 in Ottawa.
Ontario also reported six new COVID-19-related deaths in the province, bringing the total number of fatalities to 3,086.
The total number of lab-confirmed infections in the province is now 69,331, including deaths and recoveries.
There were 625 more cases considered to be resolved by officials on Saturday.
The province now has a total of 59,242 recovered patients.
The other regions in province reporting more than 10 new COVID-19 cases include Durham Region (51), Eastern Ontario Health Unit (43) Simcoe Muskoka (23), Halton (21), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (15), and Waterloo (14).
The majority of the new cases (364) were found in people in the 20 to 39 age category. There were also 267 new infections in the 40 to 59 age category, 135 in the under 19 age group and 211 in people over the age of 60.
Ontario also reported seven new COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care homes in the province.
Hospitalizations in Ontario spike
There are currently 294 patients in an Ontario hospital with COVID-19, up from 276 on Friday.
Of those patients, 82 are being treated in an intensive care unit, 53 of which are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.
The province processed more than 44,000 COVID-19 tests in the previous 24-hour period.
Ontario has completed more than 4.8 million tests for the disease since the beginning of the pandemic.
There are 30,922 tests currently under investigation.
