Ontario reported more than 2,500 new COVID-19 cases and 24 additional deaths on Saturday, as intensive care capacity continues to remain elevated.

Provincial health officials logged 2,584 new coronavirus infections today, marking the sixth straight day where cases are below 3,000.

The province reported 2,362 cases on Friday, 2,759 on Thursday and 2,320 on Wednesday.

The seven-day rolling average now stands at 2,576, compared to 3,193 a week ago.

Another 3,063 people recovered from the disease, resulting in 27,566 active cases in the province.

Ontario’s virus-related death toll now stands at 8,455.

More than 2,300 lab-confirmed variants of concern were identified in the past 24 hours, with most being the dominant B.1.1.7 variant.

In the Greater Toronto Area, 689 new cases were logged in Toronto on Saturday, along with 584 infections in Peel Region, 252 in York Region, 157 in Durham Region and 91 in Halton Region.

In the past 24 hours, more than 42,300 tests were processed in the province, down slightly from 44,040 tests the previous day.

More than 19,500 test specimens are under investigation.

The province’s positivity rate inched up to 6.2 per cent today, compared to 6.1 per cent on Friday, according to the Ministry of Health. The positivity rate, however, has dropped from a week ago when it was 6.8 per cent.

COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to decline steadily, as 1,546 people are receiving treatment in Ontario hospitals, down from 1,582 on Friday.

However, the number of patients in intensive care continues to remain elevated, as 785 people are in Ontario ICUs, up from 777 a day ago. ICU occupancy was at 851 a week ago.

Of those in ICUs, 560 are breathing with the help of a ventilator.

To date, there have been more than 507,100 lab-confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 471,096 recoveries since the virus first emerged in Ontario in Jan. 2020.

As of Friday evening, over 6.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across the province, with a record 154,104 shots into arms yesterday alone.

Since mid-December, at least 422,960 people have been fully vaccinated in Ontario. Two doses of vaccines that are currently being administered in the province are needed for full immunization.

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.