Ontario is reporting a slight increase in new COVID-19 cases today but the number of active cases in the province continues to decline.
Provincial health officials confirmed 189 new cases of COVID-19 today, up slightly from the 163 reported one day earlier but down from the 216 reported on Tuesday.
The rolling five-day average of new cases, which now stands at 181, also continues to trend downward.
An additional 192 recoveries were reported today, bringing the total number of recoveries in Ontario to 29,528.
"We continue to see a persistent decline in the number of active cases in the province with three fewer today," Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted on Thursday. "Testing has returned to all-time highs with 27,511 tests processed yesterday.”
The case positivity rate has now dropped to 0.68 per cent, down from 0.7 per cent on Wednesday.
Of the province’s 34 public health units, 27 saw five or fewer new cases and 10 reported no new cases, Elliott said.
Nearly 60 per cent of all new cases were reported in Toronto (58) and Peel Region (50).
10 more deaths reported
In the most recent epidemiological report, hospitalizations, intensive care admissions, and ventilated patients all declined, Elliott said.
There were 270 patients with COVID-19 receiving treatment in Ontario hospitals yesterday, with 69 in intensive care and 47 on ventilators.
One new outbreak was reported in long-term care yesterday but active outbreaks have decreased.
Since the start of the pandemic, 356 outbreaks have been reported at long-term care homes but only 70 of those outbreaks are still considered to be ongoing.
The province has confirmed 10 more virus-related deaths, bringing the total number of deaths in Ontario to 2,641.
All but 115 deaths are in patients ages 60 and older and 1,825 deaths involve people 80 and older.
The total number of lab-confirmed cases in the province now stands at 34,205, including deaths and recoveries.
Dr. David Williams, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, said while the numbers are all moving in the right direction, his biggest concern right now is how reopening more businesses will impact case growth.
With the exception of two municipalities in Windsor-Essex, every other region in Ontario has moved to Stage 2 of the province's reopening plan, allowing many additional facilities and businesses to open their doors to customers for the first time in months.
"There has been much talk about opening up and how it is important to make sure that as we open up, you are being really careful," Williams told reporters at Queen's Park on Thursday.
"The thing that concerns me mostly at the moment is when people are really eager to open up and just open up quickly."
Williams said the spike in case growth south of the border is "alarming."
"Some of the states that are even the same size as Ontario are reporting daily numbers yesterday well over 1,500 to 1,700. We never got above 700 in Ontario," he said. "(There are) some states with 6,000 and 5,000 (new cases) in one day. That’s very concerning."
He noted that if Ontario can continue to drive down the number of active cases, the province may even be able to avoid a second wave.
"I’d like to feel we could. In Ontario, we’ve done great so far. We’ve flattened the curve in a number of areas," he said.
"Long-term care outbreaks are coming down... retirement homes are staying down, hospital cases and that are coming down. It is all moving in the right way. And Ontarians we’ve done that collectively and I applaud you for that. But we need to stay at the task."
