Ontario reports highest COVID-19 positivity rate since late January at nearly 18 per cent
Ontario’s test positivity rate for COVID-19 jumped to nearly 18 per cent on Monday, according to provincial data.
Health officials said that just over 6,200 PCR tests were processed in the last 24-hour period, marking the lowest number of tests processed in labs since last Monday.
This yielded a positivity rate of about 17.9 per cent, the Ministry of Health said.
The last time the positivity rate was this high in Ontario was in late January.
An additional 1,741 people tested positive for COVID-19 Monday, however, it’s important to note that Ontario continues to implement testing restrictions and this number is an underestimation as a result.
Wastewater data, provided by Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Table, appears to confirm this slight increase in infection. In nearly every region in the province the concentration of the disease in wastewaters has started to rise.
Four additional deaths were also confirmed Monday. Three of the deaths occurred over the last month while the remaining death was added to the cumulative tally following a data cleaning.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, at least 12,405 people have died after contracting COVID-19.
The number of people hospitalized with the disease has increased slightly from the day before, however, some hospitals do not report complete COVID-19 data on the weekend.
According to the province, there are at least 655 people being treated for the novel coronavirus in Ontario hospitals, including 124 in intensive care.
No further vaccination breakdown was provided for hospitalizations.
In total, there have been 1,115,046 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario.
Background
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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Police inaction allowed Texas massacre to continue with catastrophic consequences: experts
The decision by police to wait before confronting the gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde was a failure with catastrophic consequences, experts say. When it was all over 19 students and two teachers were dead.

Indigenous B.C. filmmaker says he was refused entry on Cannes red carpet for his moccasins
A Dene filmmaker based in Vancouver says he was "disappointed" and "close to tears" when security at the Cannes Film Festival blocked him from walking the red carpet while dressed in a pair of moccasins.
'Absurd' to criticize feds for possible challenge of provincial laws, says Lametti
Justice Minister David Lametti is defending the federal government's authority to challenge provincial laws that they believe infringe on the rights of Canadians, after Quebec said Ottawa's reaction to Bills 21 and 96 lacked 'respect.'
Putin warns against continued arming of Ukraine; Kremlin claims another city captured
As Russia asserted progress in its goal of seizing the entirety of contested eastern Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin tried Saturday to shake European resolve to punish his country with sanctions and to keep supplying weapons that have supported Ukraine's defence.
'What happened to Chelsea?' Vancouver march demands answers in Indigenous woman's death
Around a hundred people gathered at noon Saturday at the empty Vancouver home where Chelsea Poorman’s remains were found late last month to show their support for her family's call for answers and justice.
Canada to play for gold at men's hockey worlds after victory over Czechia
Canada and Finland won semifinal games Saturday to set up a third straight gold-medal showdown between the teams at the IIHF world hockey championship.
Tear gas fired at Liverpool fans in Champions League final policing chaos
Riot police fired tear gas and pepper spray at Liverpool supporters forced to endure lengthy waits to get into the Champions League final amid logistical chaos and an attempt by UEFA and French authorities to blame overcrowding at turnstiles on people trying to access the stadium with fake tickets on Saturday.
48K without power one week after deadly storm swept through Ontario, Quebec
One week after a severe wind and thunderstorm swept through Ontario and Quebec, just over 48,000 homes in the two provinces were still without power on Saturday.
Explainer: Where do hydro poles come from?
The devastating storm in southern Ontario and Quebec last weekend damaged thousands of hydro poles across the two provinces. CTVNews.ca gives a rundown of where utility companies get their hydro poles from, as well as the climate challenges in the grid infrastructure.