Ontario is reporting no net new deaths from COVID-19 for the first time in more than a month, alongside another week-over-week drop in hospitalizations.

It is the first time since May 9 that a 24-hour period went by without any additional deaths being added to the province’s COVID-19 tally, which remains stuck at 13,338.

Meanwhile, all other public health indicators continue to show improvement ahead of a summer that most epidemiologists and public health experts say will see comparatively low levels of viral activity.

The latest data from the Ministry of Health suggests that there are 370 people in hospital with COVID-19.

That number represents an incomplete census as many hospitals don’t report occupancy data on weekends. However, it is down 14 per cent from this time last week and nearly 40 per cent from two weeks ago.

Of the people hospitalized with COVID-19, a total of 112 are in intensive care. At this time last week 116 COVID patients were in ICU units.

Positivity rates on PCR testing are also trending downwards.

Over the last 24 hours 6.5 per cent of all tests processed in Ontario’s labs came back positive, resulting in just 357 confirmed cases. That is the lowest number of new lab-confirmed cases in any 24-hour period since Nov. 2.

Experts have cautioned that the true number of daily infections is likely 10 times higher than the portion confirmed through PCR testing due to limited eligibility.

Nonetheless, it is still second lowest positivity rate in any 24-hour period since December and is down significantly from the peak reached in April when nearly 20 per cent of all PCR tests were coming back positive.

Speaking with CP24 on Monday morning, infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch said that there is “certainly a seasonal component” to COVID-19 with the overall burden of infection tending to ease in the warmer months when people spend more time outside.

He said that there will be “a rise in cases later on,” likely beginning in the fall.

“You are already hearing rumblings about a potential vaccine strategy for the late summer and early fall,” he said. “The real question, though, is who will benefit from that booster. Will it be population-wide? Will it be for at-risk groups? We still don’t know the answer to that but certainly it is on the horizon.”