Ontario has confirmed 344 new cases of COVID-19, which is right in line with its five-day rolling average.

Earlier this week the province saw the number of new cases fall under 300 on back-to-back days, which was the first time that had happened in months.

But on Thursday the number rose back up again when 384 new cases were reported.

Today’s number, which is actually based on test results from one day prior, is right in line with the average number of cases that the province has seen over the last five days – 342.

Notably, the rolling five-day average has now been on decline for five consecutive days after reaching a recent high of 426 on Monday.

The lower numbers also come amid a significant increase in testing, pointing to a lower positivity rate than the province was seeing last week when cases were in the 400s for five consecutive days.

On Thursday, the province conducted 18,525 tests, hitting its goal of 16,000 daily tests for the second day in a row. It is the highest number of tests Ontario has completed since a record 19,227 were turned around on May 8.

It also means that the positive rate is back below two per cent after going as high as seven per cent in recent weeks.

41 new deaths

While the number of new cases appear to have flat-lined to a degree, the 41 new deaths confirmed on Friday do represent the highest single-day mortality number since May 20.

The total death toll confirmed by the province now stands at 2,230, which would equate to about 8 per cent of Ontario’s 27,210 confirmed cases.

Ontario's 34 local public health units were reporting 2,269 deaths from COVID-19 on Friday afternoon.

Hospitalizations, meanwhile, continue to trend downwards.

On Thursday there were 826 COVID-19 patients in Ontario hospitals with 129 of them receiving treatment in intensive care units.

The number of people in ICU units peaked at 264 in early April and has been steadily decreasing since then.

About 77 per cent of all confirmed cases (20,983) are now considered resolved.

Other highlights from the data:

  • 300 outbreaks have been reported in Ontario’s 626 long-term care homes. 190 of those outbreaks remain ongoing.
  • There are now 4,634 confirmed cases in healthcare workers, accounting for about 17 per cent of all cases
  • There have been 3,388 people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 since the outset of the pandemic (12.5 per cent of all cases)
  • There have now been 1,625 deaths involving residents of long-term care homes
  • There have also been 4,989 confirmed cases among long-term care residents and 1,775 confirmed cases among staff