Ontario is reporting a daily COVID-19 case count of 740 today as the rolling seven-day average approaches 700.

Today's single-day tally is down from 835 new cases on Saturday but up from 722 last Sunday.

The rolling seven-day average of new cases now stands at 688, up from 564 one week ago.

Of the new cases logged today, 551 are in individuals who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 189 are in those who are fully vaccinated, Ontario's Minister of Health Christine Elliott said in a tweet.

There were 141 new cases in Toronto today, 106 in Hamilton, 63 in York Region, and 63 in Peel Region.

Two more virus-related deaths were confirmed over the past 24 hours, bringing the province's death toll to 9,498.

With 22,890 tests processed on Saturday, the provincewide positivity rate is at 3.3 per cent today, up slightly from 3.2 last Sunday and the highest that number has been since early June.

There are currently 158 COVID-19 patients in intensive care, according to the Ministry of Health. That is up from 141 one week ago.

The number of active COVID-19 infections rose to 5,874 today, up from 4,989 last Sunday.

The province says 20,709,011 vaccine doses have been administered in Ontario to date and 82.8 per cent of people 12 and up have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while 76.0 per cent are fully immunized.

On Friday, a senior government source told CTV News Toronto that the Ford government is expected to unveil an Ontario-based vaccine certificate system next week as COVID-19 cases rise.

According to the source who has knowledge of the situation, the certificate “will be required in non-essential settings like restaurants and movie theatres.”

Other provinces, including Quebec, have already unveiled a vaccine certificate program and the Ontario government has been facing increased pressure from businesses, educators, health-care workers, and local mayors to implement its own program to help prevent further lockdowns.

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.