Ontario is reporting just over 400 new cases of COVID-19 today and 33 more deaths as the positivity rate drops to its lowest level since February.

Provincial health officials logged 411 new COVID-19 infections today, down from 469 on Tuesday and 733 one week ago.

Today's case count marks the lowest single-day total reported in the province since Sept. 25.

The rolling seven-day average of new cases is now 657, down from 978 last week and 1,622 two weeks ago.

With 30,456 tests processed over the past 24 hours, the province is reporting an Ontario-wide positivity rate of two per cent, the lowest that number has been since Feb. 25.

Ontario's active caseload now stands at 6,824, down from 10,664 last Wednesday.

Of the new cases reported today, 97 are in Toronto, 72 are in Peel Region, 35 are in Waterloo, 26 are in York Region and 25 are in Hamilton.

The province saw an uptick in the number of virus-related deaths, with 33 more confirmed today but a Ministry of Health spokesperson told CP24 that 11 of the deaths reported Wednesday occurred in April and May of 2021.

Ontario’s virus-related death toll is now 8,920.

Encouragingly, the number of COVID-19 patients in Ontario hospitals continues to trend downward.

According to the Ministry of Health, there are now 571 patients infected with COVID-19 receiving treatment at Ontario hospitals, including 466 in intensive care units (ICU).

Thirty-three of Ontario’s ICU patients were transferred here from Manitoba.

Last week, the province reported that there were 708 COVID-19 patients in hospital and 576 in the ICU.

Earlier this week, the Ford government announced that starting Friday, non-essential retail stores in Ontario can reopen at 15 per cent capacity and bars and restaurants can begin offering patio dining for the first time in months.

Ontario's reopening plan was triggered by what Ontario's chief medical officer of health described as "terrific" metrics and climbing vaccination rates.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said Wednesday that nearly 10.5 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the province to date, with close to 180,000 doses administered on Tuesday alone.

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.