TORONTO -- Ontario health officials are reporting more than 1,700 new cases of COVID-19 for the third day in a row.
The province confirmed 1,791 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday. The case count comes after officials logged 1,745 more infections on Friday and 1,829 more infections on Saturday.
The case numbers reported over the past three days represent a significant increase from the 1,553 cases recorded on Thursday and the 1,508 recorded on Wednesday.
The province’s seven-day average for number of cases recorded is now 1,538, up from 1,401 one week ago.
With just over 49,000 COVID-19 tests completed, the Ontario Ministry of Health reported the province’s positivity rate on Sunday now stands at 3.7 per cent.
Health officials also reported that 18 more people have died in Ontario due to COVID-19, including two people living in long-term care homes.
In total, the province has faced 7,241 deaths related to the novel coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
Officials reported that 760 people are currently in hospital due to COVID-19. The province said at least 305 of those patients are in intensive care, and 186 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.
The province also deemed 1,353 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Sunday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 307,403.
Sunday’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 328,874, including the deaths and recoveries.
Where are the COVID-19 cases in Ontario?
Most of the new cases reported on Sunday are concentrated in hot spot regions in the Greater Toronto Area. Officials reported 495 new cases in Toronto, 350 in Peel and 177 in York Region.
Reported COVID-19 case numbers rose significantly in other areas of the province as well on Sunday.
Durham Region reported 106 new cases, Ottawa reported 90 new cases and Hamilton reported 89 new cases. Several other regions reported infection totals in the high double digits.
Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams confirmed on Thursday that the province is facing the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Variants in Ontario
Since the province began actively searching for COVID-19 variants of concern in Ontario, there have been 12,631 mutations discovered in lab-positive tests.
Of those mutations, officials found 729 in the last 24-hour period.
While the province has discovered thousands of variant mutations, only 1,370 have undergone genome testing in order to be officially categorized.
There are at least 1,287 cases of the B.1.1.7. variant in Ontario, as well as 47 B.1.351 variant and 36 P.1. variant.
More than 298,000 people fully vaccinated in Ontario
The province reports that 298,549 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 40,823 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
