The number of new COVID-19 cases dipped below 300 on Saturday for the first time in more than a month.
The province says 294 cases of the virus were confirmed on Saturday, down from 346 reported on Friday.
It is the lowest number of new cases since March 31 when 260 new cases of the virus were confirmed.
It should be noted that the dip in new cases comes as the province continues to ramp up testing to record-high levels.
More than 17,000 tests were completed on Saturday and 19,000 tests were conducted on Friday.
Ontario also saw a substantial drop in the number of new deaths on Saturday.
The province’s recently released data shows that only 35 new deaths were reported on Saturday, down from the 59 confirmed on Friday.
The total number of cases in Ontario now stands at 20,238, including 1,634 deaths and 14,772 recoveries.
Long-term care homes have been hardest hit by the pandemic and the province now says there are 239 active COVID-19 outbreaks in those facilities, an increase of two from the previous report.
All but 77 virus-related deaths are in people over the age of 60 and the province says 1,146 deaths involve patients over the age of 80.
The number of patients hospitalized with the virus has dropped to 961 with 195 people in intensive care and 140 on a ventilator.
The encouraging numbers come as the provincial government moves to reopen more parts of the economy on Monday.
Hardware stores and garden centres were permitted to reopen this weekend and retail stores have been given the green light to reopen on Monday for curbside pickup only.
Provincial parks will also be allowed to reopen this week but amenities within those parks will remain closed.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch said the increase in testing and decrease in new cases is a positive sign.
"Certainly with the growing number of tests we are seeing, this is a much better description of what we are actually seeing in Ontario so it is much better. I mean 17,000 tests per day, that's fantastic," he said.
"We see that the per cent of positive tests is dropping significantly, and or course that we see the number of new cases per day is dropping significantly so these are all positive trends over time."
He noted that the key will be maintaining these low numbers.
"There is always potential setbacks. Certainly if people don't adhere to physical distancing measures or practice good hand hygiene, especially when we are starting to see the gradual lifting of public health restrictions, we are going to be right back to square one," Bogoch said.
Other highlights:
• Health care workers represent 16.5 per cent of all cases (3,346)
• GTA public health units account for 61.7 per cent of all confirmed cases
• 12.5 per cent of all cases have resulted in hospitalizations
• Females make up a larger number of lab-confirmed confirmed cases (57.2 per cent) than males (42 per cent)
• Community transmission accounts for 36.3 per cent of all cases
