Ontario reported 165 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and two new deaths, somewhat lower than Tuesday's case spike where new case growth hit its highest point all month.

Officials reported 203 cases on Tuesday and 135 cases on Monday, though 35 of Tuesday's cases were from a residual backlog of cases in Peel Region that did not originate recently.

"Locally, 28 of 34 (Public Health Units) are reporting 5 or fewer cases, with 18 of them reporting no new cases. Ottawa is adding 33 cases, with 25 in Peel and 39 in Windsor-Essex. Just over 50% of today’s cases are under the age of 40," Health Minister Christine Elliott wrote in a tweet.

Two-hundred and seven more patients are now considered recovered, meaning the number of active cases in the province fell by at least 44 on Wednesday to 1,540.

The number of active cases in the province grew in each of the previous five days.

UHN Epidemiologist Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CP24 he hoped recent increases in cases were not the start of a long-term trend.

"Hopefully it's just a blip but as we start to see reopening, as we start to see people get together in more and more settings especially in social settings like restaurants or bars or house parties, then it would not be unexpected to see cases jump. We really have to adhere to our public health principles of hand hygiene and physical distancing and wearing a mask when we're in an indoor environment."

There are now 2,755 centrally confirmed deaths due to COVID-19 in Ontario, out of a total of 38,017 lab-confirmed infections, with 33,812 recoveries.

Elliott said 24,000 test specimens were processed in the past 24,000, up slightly from Tuesday.

Close to 12,000 test specimens remain under investigation.

Toronto added 25 cases on Wednesday, while York Region added 11 cases and Durham Region added 2 cases.

Overall hospital occupancy due to COVID-19, which was on a steady decline since late April, has stabilized in recent days.

There were 128 people in hospital for treatment of COVID-19 symptoms on Wednesday, up from 120 on Tuesday.

Of those, 37 were in intensive care, up one from Tuesday.

Nineteen people were breathing with the help of a ventilator, down four from Tuesday.