The number of new COVID-19 cases continues to rise in Ontario, with more than 400 additional cases confirmed on Saturday.

The province’s epidemiological summary released Sunday, which provides data from the previous day, confirmed that there were 460 new cases of the virus on Saturday, up from the 412 reported on Friday and the 441 confirmed on Thursday.

It is the highest number of cases reported since May 7, when 477 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed.

There are now 25,500 lab-confirmed cases of the virus in Ontario.

An additional 25 deaths have also been reported in Ontario, bringing the total number of virus-related deaths in the province to 2,073.

The number of people who have recovered from COVID-19 now sits at 19,477.

The uptick in cases comes less than a week after the province launched the first stage of its plan to reopen businesses in Ontario, including additional retail stores.

Premier Doug Ford has suggested that he will not “hesitate” to roll things back if cases continue to rise.

The province saw positive signs of declining case growth at the beginning of this month when the daily case count dipped down to 294 on May 9.

But Ontario has not seen the number of new cases in a single day drop below 300 since that date.

The province has also seen a decline in the number of tests completed each day.

Despite having the capacity to process approximately 20,000 tests per day, only 11,383 tests were conducted on Saturday.

Premier Doug Ford has vowed to ramp up testing in the province.

Speaking at Queen’s Park on Sunday, Ford said a “detailed testing strategy” that targets “various sectors and hot spots” around Ontario will be released to the public next week.

“The only way we can get those testing numbers up, the only way we can get those numbers where they need to be, is for everyone who feels they need it, to get a test. It's very simple,” the premier said.

“I'm asking the people of Ontario, if you are worried if you have COVID-19, or that you've been exposed to someone who has COVID-19, even if you are not showing symptoms, please go get a test.”

Other highlights from today’s data:

  • GTA public health units account for 64.6 per cent of all cases
  • 56.3 per cent of cases are female and 42.8 are male
  • Close to 13 per cent of all cases involved hospitalization
  • Heath care workers represent about 17 per cent of all cases (4,363)
  • All but 91 deaths have been in people ages 60 and older and no one under 19 has died from the virus in Ontario
  • 878 people are currently hospitalized with the virus, including 148 in intensive care and 104 on a ventilator
  • While there have been a total of 292 outbreaks at long-term care homes in Ontario since the start of the pandemic, no additional outbreaks of the virus were reported on Saturday