Ontario’s publicly funded school boards are reporting more than 100 new cases of COVID-19, including five that are tied to a pair of Toronto schools with outbreaks.

The Ministry of Education says that there were 121 new school-related cases of COVID-19 identified over the last 24 hours, pushing the total number of active school-related cases to 619.

The tally includes five more cases at two Toronto schools where outbreaks were declared on Thursday afternoon – four at King George Junior Public School in Runnymede and one at Alvin Curling Public School in Scarborough.

Those two schools now account for eleven of the 65 active cases at TDSB schools.

Over the last week Ontario has seen a rise in the number of new cases being reported at schools, though it is unclear at this point whether that could be tied to a bump in testing that has coincided with the return to the classroom.

The 121 new cases reported on Friday includes 105 student cases, 15 staff cases and one case involving an unidentified individual.

The rolling-seven day average of new cases, which coincides with a period in which students have been back in class in all boards, now stands at 87.6.

Lecce says government will do 'anything and everything' to keep schools open

So far only one school - St. Joseph’s High School in Windsor – has been closed due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

However, dozens of individual classes have been temporarily switched to remote learning after the discovery of positive cases.

During an interview with CTV News Ottawa on Thursday, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said that the Ford government is “ready to do anything and everything required of us” to ensure that schools can remain open and safe throughout the fourth wave of the pandemic.

“"If it is recommended to elevate our already cautious protocol, I'm comfortable doing so,” he said.

There are currently active cases of COVID-19 that have been reported at 396 individual schools. That accounts for about eight per cent of Ontario’s public schools.

With files from CTV News Ottawa