Ontario health officials detected 344 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, as well as 15 new deaths.

Friday’s count is exactly the same as last Friday, and the average daily case growth over the past seven days was slightly higher at 360 cases per day.

Ontario now has 3,792 active cases, 2,372 deaths and 23,583 recovered patients for a total case count of 29,747.

Of the deaths, all but 103 have been in patients aged 60 or older, with 1,646 of them in people aged 80 or older, most of those residing in long-term care or retirement homes.

The number of recovered patients over the past 24 hours edged above the number of new cases detected by 31.

The GTA now contains exactly two-thirds of all known cases.

Provincial labs were able to hit a new daily record for the second day in a row, processing 22,730 specimens.

A further 12,247 specimens were under investigation.

The number of Ontario residents hospitalized due to the virus continues to fall.

A total of 749 people were hospitalized across Ontario with COVID-19 symptoms on Friday, down 27 patients from Thursday.

Meanwhile, the number of patients in intensive care beds fell by three to 118.

The number of patients breathing with the help of a ventilator stayed the same at 94.