Ontario reported 477 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, bringing the provincial total to 19,598 cases.
The death toll has risen to 1,540, as 63 more deaths were reported.
Meanwhile, 13,990 people have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 71.4 per cent of cases.
Friday’s report marks an increase of 2.5 per cent in total cumulative cases. It also marks the highest number of cases in a single-day since the beginning of the week.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, said it appears the province appears to be in a “slow plateau.”
Williams said case numbers aren’t coming down as quickly as he’d like to see, but it is moving “in the right direction” and noted that Friday’s report had a low positivity rate compared to the number of tests conducted.
The province has completed 397,149 tests so far for the virus. This is up 16,295 from the previous day. Ontario set a target last month of 16,000 tests by May 6. Thursday’s report was just shy of that number but Friday’s report hit the target.
Ontario has 1,028 patients (down by five) hospitalized due to COVID-19, with 213 patients in an intensive care unit (down by seven) and 166 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by 11).
According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 1,150 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is up by 39 deaths, and there are 175 outbreaks.
Ontario officials have said there may be a discrepancy between overall deaths and deaths at long-term care homes due to how the province’s health database system, called iPHIS, is tracking data and how the Ministry of Long-Term Care is tracking data.
The ministry also indicated there are 2,782 confirmed cases among long-term care residents and 1,707 cases among staff.
Health-care workers in Ontario account for 3,230 of the total reported cases, which is 16.5 per cent of the infected population.
Greater Toronto Area public health units account for 61.3 per cent of all cases in the province.
Here is a breakdown of Ontario cases by gender and age:
- 8,213 people are male (41.9 per cent)
- 11,222 people are female (57.3 per cent)
- 504 people are 19 and under (2.6 per cent)
- 4,602 people are 20 to 39 (23.5 per cent)
- 5,972 people are 40 to 59 (30.5 per cent)
- 4,254 people are 60 to 79 (21.7 per cent)
- 4,254 people are 80 and over (21.7 per cent)
There are 14,641 people currently under investigation awaiting test results.
The newly reported numbers are valid as of 2 p.m. Thursday for Toronto and 4 p.m. for the rest of the province.
— With files from Ryan Rocca