TORONTO -- Ontario has recorded more than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases, as well as 51 more deaths related to the disease.
Health officials reports 3,056 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 234,364. The new cases on Saturday is a slight increase over Friday when 2,998 infections were logged.
The 51 new COVID-19-related deaths bring the total number of fatalities to 5,340.
The province completed 73,875 COVID-19 tests in the previous 24-hour period. According to the government, Saturday's positivity rate is 4.9 per cent.
The seven-day rolling average now stands at 3,218, compared to 3,341 a week ago.
Health officials reported that 1,632 people are currently in hospital due to the disease. Of those patients, more than 397 are in intensive care, and 281 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.
Officials have said that when more than 300 COVID-19 patients are in intensive care, medical care in hospitals not related to the disease becomes nearly impossible to handle.
The province also deemed 3,212 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Saturday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 200,406.
Where were Ontario's new COVID-19 cases found?
Of the 3,056 cases reported on Saturday, health officials said that 903 were in Toronto, 639 were in Peel Region, 283 were in York Region, 162 in Durham Region, and 152 in Ottawa.
Several other regions in Ontario reported COVID-19 cases numbers in the triple digits, including Waterloo (132), Niagara Region (147), Windsor-Essex (115).
In an effort to help curb the spread of the disease, the provincial government ordered a 28-day Ontario-wide lockdown on Dec. 26.
Earlier this week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a second state of emergency and issued a stay-at-home order for the province, which started on Thursday.
The order will remain in effect for at least 28 days.
As of 8 p.m. on Friday, 189,090 initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ontario.
