Ontario reports just under 300 new COVID-19 cases, 6 more deaths
Ontario is reporting just under 300 new COVID-19 cases along with six additional deaths related to the disease.
Health officials logged 296 new infections on Thursday, marking a jump from the 255 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
This is the fourth day in a row in which the daily COVID-19 case count in Ontario has been below the 300 mark.
The seven-day rolling average of daily COVID-19 cases now stands at about 305, a significant decrease from the week before when the average was 410.
With just over 29,500 COVID-19 tests processed in the last 24-hour period, the Ministry of Health says the province’s positivity rate has declined to about 1.1 per cent.
The last time the positivity rate was this low was on Sept. 25.
According to the Ontario Hospital Association, the number of patients in intensive care with COVID-19 related critical illness has now dipped below 300, with 299 patients.
Of the cases reported on Thursday, 95 cases were in the Waterloo Region.
According to the province’s epidemiology report, there are 35 cases in Toronto, 20 in Peel Region, 19 in Hamilton, 17 in Ottawa, 16 in Durham Region and 14 in York Region.
This marks Toronto’s lowest single-day case count since Sept. 3.
All other public health units are reporting fewer than 10 new COVID-19 cases.
The total number of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ontario now stands at 543,315, including deaths and recoveries.
The new cases come as the government announces Ontario is moving to Step 2 of its economic reopening plan two days early. This means that as of June 30, small gatherings of up to five people will now be allowed indoors and personal care services will be permitted to resume.
The province was originally scheduled to move into this stage on July 2.
More than 3.5 million people in Ontario have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and are considered fully immunized.
In the last 24-hour period, the province has administered 225,188 doses of vaccine.
Background
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
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.