The number of new COVID-19 infections in Ontario continues to rise with 169 new cases reported by provincial health officials today.
It is the highest number of new cases reported in a single day since the end of July.
Ontario recorded 148 new cases on Friday, the second time in the past week that the province saw that number of new cases in a 24-hour period.
New infections have been steadily rising in the province since the middle of August after new cases dipped into double digits for a full week.
According to the province's latest epidemiological summary, while no new deaths were reported, new cases outpaced recoveries again today as only 106 additional cases are now considered to be resolved.
The total number of active cases of COVID-19 in Ontario now stands at 1,345.
Of the 169 new infections confirmed today, 46 were in Peel Region, 42 were in Toronto, 30 were in Ottawa, and 19 were in York Region.
Provincial health officials say 28 of Ontario's 34 local public health units reported five or fewer cases and 19 are reported no new cases at all.
The province also processed 28,600 tests over the past 24 hours, resulting in a case positivity rate of about 0.6 per cent.
On Friday, the province confirmed 72 new infections in Peel Region alone, prompting Premier Doug Ford to express concern about the rise in cases in the area.
"When Brampton makes up three per cent of the population but 40 per cent of the cases yesterday that is concerning and I keep seeing this escalating," Ford said Friday.
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown told CP24 that the recent rise in Peel is partly due to an outbreak at a manufacturing facility in Mississauga that lead to 34 people testing positive.
The province's chief medical officer of health has acknowledged that the uptick in cases in the province is concerning and Toronto's medical officer of health previously said that Toronto is likely already in the midst of a second wave of infections.
“Unfortunately in much of the country we are starting to slowly inch up in the number of cases and it is not a good sign,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CP24 on Friday. “It is only early September and we know it is going to be a long fall and a long winter.”
The number of people hospitalized with the virus has inched down to 58 today, with 14 in intensive care and eight patients on ventilators.
New cases in the GTA:
Toronto: 42
Peel Region: 46
York Region: 19
Halton Region: 3
Durham Region: 6
