Ontario reported nearly 4,100 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday, continuing a decline in the seven-day rolling average of new cases.
Provincial health officials logged 4,094 new coronavirus cases, down from 4,505 infections on Friday.
The province reported 3,682 new cases on Thursday, 4,212 on Wednesday and 3,469 on Tuesday.
The seven-day rolling average dropped to 4,094 today, a notable decrease from 4,370 a week ago.
Twenty-four more virus-related fatalities were recorded on Saturday, bringing the province’s death toll to 7,887.
Another 4,332 people recovered from the disease in the past 24 hours, resulting in 41,473 active cases across the province.
Ontario also identified 3,014 lab-confirmed cases of variants of concern on Saturday, driven by the highly contagious dominant B.1.1.7 variant, which first emerged in the U.K.
Yesterday, 36 cases of the B.1.617 variant of interest, which was first discovered in India, were identified in Ontario- marking the first time the variant was confirmed in the province.
Due to widespread transmission of the variant in India, on Thursday the federal government banned travel from India and Pakistan for at least 30 days.
Ontario labs processed 52,160 tests in the past 24 hours, down from 56,206 tests the previous day.
Another 31,933 tests are still under investigation.
The province’s positivity rate is now 7.8 per cent, down one per cent from a day ago, according to the Ministry of Health.
In the Greater Toronto Area, 1,191 new cases were reported in Toronto, 1,014 in Peel Region, 406 in York Region, 199 in Durham and 109 in Halton.
There were a total of 2,277 people hospitalized yesterday across the province due to the virus, down by 10 from the previous day.
Of those hospitalized, 833 are in intensive care units and 600 are breathing with the help of a ventilator.
To date, more than 441,400 cases of the virus and 392,044 recoveries have been reported in Ontario since last January.
More than 358,700 people have been fully vaccinated against the disease in Ontario since mid-December.
Two doses of vaccines currently being administered in the province are needed for full immunization.
As of Friday evening, over 4.5 million doses of vaccines have been administered across the province, with 126,694 shots into arms yesterday alone.
More to come.
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.
