Ontario’s public schools reported 181 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest post-weekend tally reported in nearly a month and the third daily increase observed in a row following weeks of declines.

The Ministry of Education said 159 cases involving students and 17 involving staff were detected between Friday, Nov. 5 and Monday Nov. 8, as well five other cases where the exact connection to school was not known.

Tuesday’s count was the highest post-weekend tally seen in Ontario schools since Oct. 13 when 269 cases were reported.

There are now 961 known active cases of coronavirus infection tied to Ontario schools, up from 913 last week.

Cases tied to schools represented 24 per cent of Ontario’s active caseload on Tuesday.

Four hundred and eighty-two of the province’s 4,844 public schools have at least one active case of COVID-19 and three are closed, including St. Patrick Catholic Elementary School in Schomberg and Precious Blood Catholic School in Scarborough.

Across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), a count of data produced by school boards found 568 known active cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, up 13 from Monday and 93 from one week ago.

There have been 5,252 cases of COVID-19 found in Ontario public schools since Sept. 1, 2021.

At this point last year, 2,776 cases of COVID-19 had been found in Ontario public schools.