Ontario records another 148 COVID-19 cases, its highest daily case count since July
Province's total is now 42,083 cases since the outbreak began in January
Ontario reported an additional 148 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, its highest daily case count since July 24.
The update brings the province's total number of cases to 42,083 since the novel coronavirus outbreak began in January.
In a series of tweets, Health Minister Christine Elliott said 27 of the province's 34 public health units reported five or fewer cases. Of those, 18 had no new cases.
Toronto, Peel Region and Ottawa contributed almost two-thirds of Saturday's new cases, recording 41, 32 and 20 positive COVID-19 infections, respectively.
Windsor saw a significant increase in cases with another 19 after recording only four cases on Friday. The region, which was the last to enter Stage 3 of the province's economic reopening plan, has been able to keep most of its daily case counts to the single digits the last week.
The rest of the cases were primarily scattered among the Greater Toronto Area and southern Ontario.
After falling to below 80 on Aug. 9, the five-day rolling average of new daily cases — a measure that smoothes peaks and valleys in data — has been trending upward since.
Meanwhile, the number of hospitalized patients declined on Saturday after a slight increase the day before. Fifty-one people were in the hospital being treated for the novel coronavirus, 10 fewer than Friday. Only five patients were on ventilators, a significant drop from 12, and one less person is in the ICU. The province has confirmed that 38,126 of its total cases are considered resolved.
No new deaths have been recorded in Ontario either, leaving the current toll at 2,809. A CBC News count based on data from public health units, a measure that avoids lag times in the provincial reporting system, however, puts the actual toll at 2,839.
The 0.4 per cent increase in cases on Saturday comes as Ontario's network of community, commercial and hospital labs processed more than 32,100 tests on Friday. So far, the province has processed more than 711,000 tests this month.
All of the figures can be found in the Ministry of Health's daily update, which includes data up until 4 p.m. the previous day. The number of cases for any particular region on a given day may differ from what is reported by the local public health unit.
With files from Ania Bessonov