Ontario has reported 43 new deaths in people with COVID-19, which represents the biggest single-day increase so far.

There have now been 334 deaths attributed to the virus in Ontario, including 134 in residents at long-term care homes.

The province is also reporting 483 new cases, which would be the highest number since a record 550 new cases were confirmed on April 8. The number is up roughly 15 per cent from the 421 new cases reported on Monday and 20 per cent from the 401 cases reported on Sunday.

Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said Tuesday that Ontario’s curve overall is not yet trending downwards but the number of new cases and hospital admissions seems to be “plateauing.”

“Our emergency department visits related to Covid-19 have dropped off somewhat significantly. And the good news is it seems to be plateauing.”

COVID cases graph April 13

Province still falling short on testing

Over the last 24-hour period the province completed 4,852 tests, which remains short of the 8,000 daily tests that officials have committed to reaching by tomorrow and far off the 13,000 tests officials promised by later in the month.

The lone bit of good news comes in the number of people hospitalized with the virus.

There are now 769 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario’s hospitals, which is only up nine from one day prior.

The number of people in intensive care units, meanwhile, declined from 263 to 255 over the last 24 hours.

About 199 patients are currently breathing with the help of a ventilator.

There are now 7,953 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the province, including recoveries and deaths.

That number is up 68 per cent from the 4,726 confirmed cases the province had at this time last week.

Here are some other highlights from the data:

  • There have now been 210 deaths of people over the age of 80. That number represents about 60 per cent of all deaths, though the group only represents 16 per cent of all confirmed cases.
  • There are now 857 confirmed cases in healthcare workers (10.8 per cent of all cases)
  • About 44 per cent of all cases (3,568) are now considered resolved.
  • The backlog of tests waiting to be processed now stands at 2,107
  • There are now outbreaks in 114 long-term care homes