For the first time in a week, the number of new COVID-19 cases in Ontario surpassed 100.
According to the province’s latest disclosure, 115 new cases of the virus were confirmed in Ontario over the past 24 hours, up from the 79 recorded one day prior.
With 70 new infections reported on Saturday, 88 on Friday, and 95 on Thursday, the rolling five-day average of new cases now stands at 89.
In a tweet, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott noted that while today's data puts an "end to our streak" of fewer than 100 daily cases, the province's downward trend continues.
"We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that thanks to your efforts the trend in the province remains downward," Elliott's tweet read.
"Locally 28 of Ontario’s 34 public health units are still reporting five or fewer cases, with 18 of them reporting no new cases."
The uptick in cases comes as the province also reported a dip in testing.
Just over 22,000 tests were processed in the past 24 hours, down from the 28,000 completed one day earlier, bringing the case positivity rate to 0.5 per cent today.
New infections also outpaced the 102 recoveries reported today, resulting in an increase in the number of active cases in the province.
There are now 994 active cases of COVID-19 in Ontario.
Sixty per cent of all new cases are in people under the age of 40 (69).
The highest numbers of new infections were reported in Ottawa (20), Peel Region (19) and Toronto (16).
Niagara Region saw a notable spike with 11 new cases confirmed on Monday and Windsor-Essex reported 12 new cases of the virus.
The province confirmed this morning that Windsor will join the rest of Ontario in Stage 3 of the provincial government's reopening plan starting on Wednesday.
"This is an exciting step forward and one only made possible thanks to the hard work and diligence of all Ontarians to stop the spread – but we have to keep it up," Elliott wrote.
No new virus-related deaths were reported today and no new outbreaks were reported in long-term care homes.
'It's like we were living on a different planet'
The total number of lab-confirmed cases of the virus in Ontario is now 40,161, including 2,786 deaths and 36,381 recoveries.
Speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, Premier Doug Ford said his friends in the United States are "shocked" by the progress Ontario has made in slowing the spread of COVID-19.
“I have the opportunity to talk to a lot of friends in the U.S., and they just can't believe it,” Ford told reporters. “It's like we were living on a different planet when I tell them we’re under 100 cases with 14.77 million people. They're shocked.”
New cases in the GTA:
Peel Region: 19
Toronto: 16
York Region: 7
Halton Region: 5
Durham Region: 2
