Ontario reported 149 new COVID-19 infections and no new deaths on Wednesday, a drop from numbers reported over the long weekend but generated from significantly fewer lab-processed tests.

Ontario reported 185 cases on Monday and 190 on Sunday, the highest daily case counts seen since July 24.

"Twenty-eight public health units are reporting five or fewer cases, with fully 21 of them reporting no new cases. Toronto is reporting 50 cases with 41 in Peel and 16 in Ottawa," Health Minister Christine Elliott wrote on Twitter.

She said labs processed 17,600 test specimens in the past 24 hours, down from 23,725 on Tuesday and 21,000 on Monday.

The decline in tests processed meant Ontario's net positivity rate stayed virtually unchanged across the past three days at 0.85 per cent.

Another 136 people recovered from infection on Wednesday, meaning the number of active cases in the province increased by 13 to 1,540.

There have now been 43,685 lab-confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Ontario since Jan. 25, with 39,332 recoveries and 2,813 centrally-reported deaths.

Premier Doug Ford said the sustained case growth concerns him.

"Until we get below 100 (cases per day) again I don't feel 100 per cent comfortable," he said on Wednesday afternoon. "If everyone focuses on guidelines and protocols, we shouldn't have a problem."

He told reporters the province is not considering a move to reimpose restrictions on any public health region, but individual mayors or public health officials can introduce new measures if they choose.

UHN Epidemiologist Dr. Isaac Bogoch said the last few days of data show that the province is on a sustained, slow but steady increase in infection.

"It's not a blip, it's not some daily trend where we see a little spike, this is a sustained slow but real rise in cases province-wide," he told CP24. "We have to have a very good understanding of who is getting infected and where they are getting infected."

Sixty-nine per cent (103) of cases detected on Wednesday were in people aged 39 or younger.

Apart from Toronto, Peel and Ottawa, Halton Region reported seven new cases and York Region reported 13.

Hospitalizations across the province held basically steady from the weekend, with 55 people admitted for treatment of COVID-19 symptoms.

Of those, 15 were in intensive care units, with eight breathing with the help of a ventilator.