Ontario is reporting just under 1,300 new COVID-19 infections today as the average daily case count continues to drop in the province.

Provincial health officials logged 1,273 new infections today, up from 1,135 on Thursday and 1,095 on Wednesday but down from 1,890 seven days ago.

Nearly 40,900 tests were completed over the past 24 hours, resulting in a positivity rate of 3.4 per cent, according to the Ministry of Health.

The rolling seven-day average of new cases has dropped to 1,353 today, down from 2,064 last Friday.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott says of the new cases reported today, 269 are in Toronto, 268 are in Peel Region, 101 are in Ottawa, 78 are in Hamilton, and 72 are in Durham Region.

Another 14 virus-related deaths were reported in the province today.

The number of active, lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario has declined to 15,438 today. The active caseload in the province was 22,200 just last week.

The Ministry of Health says there are currently 1,023 people with COVID-19 receiving treatment in Ontario hospitals, down from 1,265 last week.

Intensive care admissions have dropped to 645, down from 715 seven days ago.

"When we sort of take a step back and look at all metrics we seem to be headed in the right direction," Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist and member of Ontario's COVID-19 vaccine distribution task force, told CP24 on Friday.

"Some metrics are getting better faster, some metrics are getting better slower, but all metrics are getting better and we are headed on the right path."

On Friday, the province confirmed that nearly 8.7 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ontario to date.

The province also confirmed today that it plans to speed up the interval between first and second doses in Ontario, starting with people over the age of 80 next week.

About 65 per cent of Ontarians have now received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and the province hopes that the increase in vaccination rates and declining case counts will mean some public health restrictions, including a ban on outdoor dining and the closure of non-essential businesses, can be lifted by mid-June.

The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.