TORONTO -- Ontario health officials are reporting fewer than 1,300 new cases of COVID-19 following three consecutive days in which the case were above that mark.
The province confirmed 1,268 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, but officials say the positivity rate has slightly increased as testing numbers decreased over that 24-hour period.
With just over 33,900 tests completed, the Ontario Ministry of Health reported the province’s positivity rate now stands at 3.8 per cent. It stood at 3.1 per cent on Sunday and less than three per cent on several days prior.
Monday’s 1,268 cases comes after 1,371 new cases were reported on Friday, 1,468 were reported on Saturday and 1,747 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Sunday.
The province’s seven-day average for number of cases recorded is now 1,349, up from 1,155 one week ago.
On Monday, health officials also reported that nine more people have died due to COVID-19, including three people living in long-term care homes.
In total, the province has recorded 7,162 deaths related to the novel coronavirus since the start of the pandemic
Officials reported that 699 people are currently in hospital due to COVID-19, but noted some hospitals have not submitted data on their bed use, which may have resulted in an underestimation.
The province added that at least 298 of those patients in hospital are in intensive care, and 187 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.
The province also deemed 1,114 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Monday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 299,684.
Monday’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 319,374, including deaths and recoveries.
Where are the COVID-19 cases in Ontario?
Most of the new cases are concentrated in hot spot regions in the Greater Toronto Area. Officials reported 366 new cases in Toronto, 220 in Peel and 147 in York Region on Monday.
Most other regions in Ontario reported fewer than 100 new cases of the disease, with 71 reported in Hamilton, 61 reported in Thunder Bay, 57 reported in Ottawa, 53 reported in Durham Region and 47 reported in Halton.
Variants in Ontario
On Monday, the province reported that an additional 407 variant mutations have been found in positive COVID-19 tests. This marks a decrease from the 732 mutations discovered the previous day.
The province has detected 8,639 mutations since March 14. Of those mutations, officials have completed genomic testing for 1,184 cases.
Officials confirmed that 1,106 of those cases have been confirmed to be the U.K. variant, also known as B.1.1.7.
The province also stated that 44 have been confirmed to be the South African variant, also known as B.1.351, and 34 have been categorized as the Brazil variant, also known as P.1.
More than 287,000 people fully vaccinated in Ontario
The province reports that 287,283 people in Ontario have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and are now considered immunized against the disease.
In the last 24-hour period, officials said that 33,198 doses of the vaccine were administered to residents in the province.
Backstory:
The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times
