Provincial health officials are recording nearly 3,000 new cases of COVID-19 today, down from the record number of cases reported in Ontario on Saturday but up significantly from this point last week.

Ontario logged 2,964 new cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus today, pushing the seven-day average of new infections to 2,792, up from 2212 last Sunday.

Today's case count is a drop from the record 3,363 cases confirmed on Saturday but up from 2,005 cases reported seven days ago.

"Locally, there are 786 new cases in Toronto, 346 in Peel, 308 in York Region, 197 in Durham and 187 in Windsor-Essex County," Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted on Sunday.

With just shy of 50,000 tests completed over the past 24 hours, the test positivity rate today is 5.6 per cent, up from 5.1 per cent last week.

2 more deaths between ages of 20 and 39

Another 25 virus-related deaths have been reported in the province and the total number now stands at 4,650. Fifteen of the deaths reported today were residents of long-term care homes and two involve people between the ages of 20 and 39.

There are currently 228 Ontario long-term care homes dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak, according to provincial data, and the number of deaths involving residents of those facilities has now climbed to 2,829.

According to the latest data released by provincial health officials, the number of patients infected with COVID-19 receiving treatment in Ontario hospitals dropped from 1003 to 998 over the past 24 hours but intensive care admissions have increased.

There are now 329 people with COVID-19 in intensive care, up from 322 on Saturday and 285 last week.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Ontario is now 23,611, up from 19,861 one week ago.

Southern parts of the province, including Toronto, will be in lockdown until at least Jan. 23 as part of provincewide restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.

Speaking to CP24 on Sunday morning, Mayor John Tory said the premier needs to seriously consider what comes next in terms of restrictions.

"I don't think we are out of the woods yet in the context of Christmas and all of the visiting around people were doing... I think we are going to have to take a serious look now that we are into the New Year," he said.

"What we are going to do post that January 23rd date that is set for the end of the lockdown. Because in the end, this virus is far from being wrestled to the ground. As we can see, the numbers are getting worse, not better."

New cases in the GTHA:

Toronto: 786

Peel Region: 346

York Region: 308

Durham Region: 197

Halton Region: 100

Hamilton: 172