TORONTO -- Ontario health officials are reporting another spike in the number of new COVID-19 cases as they log more than 1,800 infections for the first time in over a month.
Health officials confirmed 1,829 new case of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, which follows yesterday’s spike when the province recorded 1,745 new infections.
The last time Ontario recorded more than 1,800 new cases was on Feb. 1, when the province added 1,969 infections.
With just over 52,900 COVID-19 tests completed, the Ontario Ministry of Health reported the province’s positivity rate on Saturday now stands at 3.6 per cent.
The case numbers reported over the past two 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 1,532, up from 1,337 one week ago.
The province also reported that 11 more people have died in Ontario due to COVID-19, including one person living in a long-term care home.
In total, the province has recorded 7,223 deaths related to the novel coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
Officials reported that 765 people are currently in hospital due to COVID-19. The province said at least 302 of those patients are in intensive care, and 189 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.
The province also deemed 1,261 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Saturday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 306,050.
Saturday’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 327,083, including deaths and recoveries.
Where are the COVID-19 cases in Ontario?
Most of the new cases reported on Saturday are concentrated in hot spot regions in the Greater Toronto Area. Officials reported 593 new cases in Toronto, 287 in Peel and 157 in York Region.
Reported COVID-19 case numbers rose significantly in other areas of the province as well. Ottawa reported 101 new cases and Hamilton reported 124 new cases. Several other regions reported infection totals in the high double digits.
On Thursday, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams confirmed 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 11,902 mutations discovered in lab-positive tests.
Of those mutations, officials found 907 in the last 24-hour period.
While the province has discovered thousands of variant mutations, only 1,312 have undergone genome testing in order to be officially categorized.
There are at least 1,230 cases of the B.1.1.7. variant in Ontario, as well as 47 B.1.351 variant and 35 P.1. variant.
More than 297,000 people fully vaccinated in Ontario
The province reports that 297,134 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 60,283 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
