Ontario is reporting its lowest number of new cases of COVID-19 in more than three months.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says that there were 111 new instances of the virus confirmed on Thursday, which would be the lowest number in any 24-hour period since March 25.

It also represents a significant reduction from the 189 new cases reported one day prior.

The five-day rolling average of new cases now stands at 168, down from 181 at this point last week and 222 at this point two weeks ago.

“While very welcome news, we shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from one day of data,” Elliott warned in a message posted to Twitter on Friday morning. “Rather, we’ll continue to keep a close eye on what is hopefully the continuation of our downward trend.”

Fewer than 2,000 active cases remain

The three-month low in the number of new cases comes after the province conducted a record 30,780 tests on Thursday.

That means that a positive rate that had neared seven per cent at one point last month is now down to about 0.36 per cent.

Active cases also continue to decline.

On Thursday another 226 existing cases were moved over to “recovered” in the province’s database as the number of active cases province-wide fell below 2,000 for the first time in months.

There were another three deaths confirmed on Thursday but that, it should be noted, is the lowest number in any 24-hour period so far this week and represents a drop off from the five-day average of eight.

Meanwhile, there continues to be a steady decrease in hospitalizations.

There were several weeks in May when more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized across Ontario but that number was down to 256 on Thursday.

Of those patients, 61 of them were in Intensive Care Units.

That number previously peaked at 264 in early April.

“This isn't over. I can't stress it enough. We're doing great because everyone listened,” Premier Doug Ford said during a news conference on Thursday. “But man, this thing comes back, that's what concerns me. So we have to stay focused and we can't let our guard down for a heartbeat. We let our guard down and look what happened to Florida, look what happened to California and Arizona and Texas. That's what happens when you're reckless, you're careless and you let your guard down.”

About 53 per cent of the new cases confirmed on Thursday occurred in either Toronto (30) or Peel Region (29).

Meanwhile, 19 of the province’s 34 public health units reported no new cases over the last 24 hours.

Other highlights from the data:

  • There were no new outbreaks confirmed in long-term care homes over the last 24 hours. There are still 69 active outbreaks at Ontario’s long-term care homes.
  • There have been 2,644 deaths in people who have contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic
  • Long-term care residents have accounted for 63 per cent of all deaths (1,692) so far
  • The total number of people who have been hospitalized so far now stands at 4,316, accounting for 12.6 per cent of all cases
  • 28 of Ontario’s 34 public health units reported five or fewer cases over the last 24 hours