Ontario is reporting more than 4,100 new COVID-19 cases and 28 more deaths today as the province’s seven-day rolling average topped 4,000 for the first time in the pandemic.

The province logged 4,156 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, up from 3,670 a day ago.

Provincial health officials logged 4,401 cases on Monday, 4,456 on Sunday and 3,813 on Saturday.

The seven-day rolling average now stands at 4,002, marking the first time it has surpassed 4,000 since the pandemic was declared in March 2020. Seven days ago, the average was 2,553.

Ontario’s virus-related death toll now stands at 7,610. Among the latest fatalities, one person was between 20 and 39 years old, two were between 40 and 59 years old, 12 were between 60 and 79 years old and 13 were 80 years old and over.

Another 3,160 people have recovered from the disease, resulting in 36,808 active cases of the virus in Ontario.

Provincial health officials also reported 4,016 lab-confirmed cases of variants of concern on Wednesday, with most being the dominant B.1.1.7 variant, which first emerged in the United Kingdom.

Ontario labs processed more than 54,200 tests in the past 24 hours.

Over 45,200 tests are still under investigation.

Within the Greater Toronto Area, Toronto reported 1,254 new cases today, while 593 were logged in Peel Region, 476 in York, 248 in Durham and 192 in Halton.

Of Ontario’s 34 public health units, 17 reported 30 or more new cases today.

The rise in testing contributed to a drop in the province’s positivity rate today to 8.6 per cent, compared to 10.3 per cent on Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Health.

Another 55 patients were admitted to hospitals across the province in the past 24 hours, with a total of 1,877 people currently in hospitals due to the virus, the ministry says.

However, the latest data from public health units and hospitals says there are a record 2,009 patients in Ontario hospitals due to the virus.

Of those in hospital, the ministry says there are a record 642 in ICUs, up from 626 a day ago, and 442 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The number of patients in ICUs have been rising steadily for the past seven days.

To date, there have been more than 398,800 lab-confirmed coronavirus infections and 354,417 recoveries in Ontario since Jan 2020.

More than 337,200 Ontarians have been fully vaccinated since vaccinations began in mid-December. Two doses of an approved vaccine that is currently being administered in Ontario is needed for full immunization.

As of Tuesday evening, 3.4 million doses had been administered across the province, with 112,817 yesterday alone.

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.