The number of new cases of COVID-19 in Ontario has dropped for the second consecutive day after a spike in new cases on Saturday.

The province reported 370 new cases of the virus on Sunday, down from 434 on Saturday.

The total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario now stands at 17,923, including deaths and recoveries.

The province saw a record-high number of 640 new cases of COVID-19 on April 25 but the number has continued to drop since that date.

Last week, the number dipped down to 347 on Tuesday but jumped back up in the days that followed.

“While it's coming down slowly, it's having ups and downs and we'd like to see it progressing even quicker,” Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said of the rate of new infections on Saturday.

He noted that we have not yet “adequately” disrupted community transmission of COVID-19.

The number of deaths reported in Ontario has now surpassed 1,300 after 84 more deaths were reported on Sunday.

That number of deaths on Sunday is more than double the 40 reported on Saturday and came close to reaching the record-high 86 new deaths reported last Wednesday.

All but 64 of the 1,300 virus-related deaths in the province are in patients 60 or older and approximately 900 of the deaths are in patients 80 and older.

Residents in long-term care account for more than three quarters of all deaths.

According to the provincial data released Monday, there are currently 212 COVID-19 outbreaks at long-term care homes.

At least three long-term care staff members have died of the virus as of Sunday, according to Williams. 

The number of patients hospitalized with the virus now stands at 984, including 225 in intensive care and 175 on a ventilator. The number of recoveries in Ontario is12,505.

Williams says that while Sunday’s relatively low number of new cases is encouraging, his team is more concerned with the overall trend of how the virus is spreading in Ontario, specifically case positivity.

"It keeps coming down and that’s a good indication of what’s happening. We’re doing more and more testing, but getting less and less people positive," Williams said.

"These trends and directions are in fact more informative than the day-to-day numbers and we’re hoping to be able to bring that more to your attention in to the future."

The province conducted 14,555 tests on Sunday, significantly fewer tests than the record 17,146 specimens that were processed on Saturday.

Premier Doug Ford says since his call to ramp up testing in Ontario, which once trailed all other provinces in per capita testing, we are now “leading” Canada in that capacity.

“We are leading the country in daily testing volumes both in total tests and per capita,” he said. “’We still have a lot of work to do.”

Ford noted that as “key trends” head in the right direction and health systems continue to be strengthened, the province feels more confident that more businesses can reopen.

“It gives us the confidence that we are getting close to opening parks, that we are getting close to opening retail for curbside pickup. It gives us the confidence that we are on the right track.”

Other highlights:

  • Health care workers represent about 15 per cent of all cases (2,761)
  • GTA public health units account for 60.1 per cent of all confirmed cases
  • A little more than 12 per cent of all cases have resulted in hospitalizations
  • Females make up a larger number of lab-confirmed confirmed cases (57.5 per cent) than males (41.6 per cent)
  • Community transmission accounts for 36.2 per cent of all cases