TORONTO -- Ontario is reporting another 251 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, a decline from the 14-week high logged a day earlier.
Four more deaths were also reported by health officials, bringing the provincial death-toll related to the novel coronavirus to 2,820. All of the new deaths were recorded in long-term care residents.
The new cases come one day after Ontario recorded the highest daily tally of infections since early June, with 313 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases logged in a 24-hour period.
The surge in cases followed three straight days in which more than 200 new cases of the novel coronavirus were logged and 15 days where more than 100 new cases were confirmed.
"We'd still like it lower but let's see how it goes over the course of the week," Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health David Williams told CP24 in an interview Tuesday morning in which he released the day’s COVID-19 tally early.
The majority of the cases were in people between the ages of 20 and 39. According to the province’s epidemiology report, 116 of Tuesday’s cases were within that age demographic.
Twenty-seven cases were logged in people under the age of 20, while 67 were in people between the ages of 40 and 59, and 33 were in people between 60 and 79.
Nine cases were recorded in people over the age of 80.
In total, 47 people are being treated for COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals. Nineteen of those patients are in the intensive care unit and 11 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.
Where are the COVID-19 cases in Ontario?
Of the new cases recorded on Tuesday, 73 were in Toronto, 52 were in Peel Region, 22 were in York Region and seven were in Durham Region.
Ottawa and Waterloo were the only two cities outside of the the Greater Toronto Area to report more than 10 cases, with 51 and 11 new infections respectively.
“Locally, 24 public health units are reporting five or fewer cases with 14 reporting no new cases,” Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said in a tweet.
Premier Doug Ford said on Monday that his government has not ruled out the possibility of another shutdown in order to curb the spread of the disease as the number of COVID-19 cases spiked.
Ford said that if any action was taken by the government it would be done regionally.
At the same time, the premier has said that the mayors of hotspots such as Toronto and Peel should feel free to roll back public health measures if they feel it is necessary.
Ford is expected to release his government’s plans for a potential fall second wave of COVID-19 in the coming days.
The total number of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in the province now stands at 45,068, including deaths and recoveries.
COVID-19 testing in Ontario
According to the provincial government, more than 3.3 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Ontario.
In the last 24 hours, a little more than 27,600 tests were conducted.
More than 24,300 tests are still under investigation.
