covid ontario

Ontario announces fewer than 200 new COVID-19 cases and record number of tests

Ontario is on a roll as far as battling the pandemic is concerned, with only 182 new cases of the novel coronavirus confirmed on Friday —making it the fifth day in a row that we've seen fewer than 300 new infections.

It also marks the second day in a row that the one-day increase rate, at just 0.6 per cent, has been the lowest on record since the province started issuing regular epidemiologic summaries on its website.

This is especially heartening given the fact that a record-high number of tests were conducted in the past 24 hours: 28,000, which is above the province's stated capacity of 25,000 per day and nearly 4,000 more than the province's previous one-day testing record, which was yesterday.

In more good news, the number of people now considered to be recovered from the virus has jumped 302 since the last report — significantly higher than the number of new patients — for an overall recovery rate of 82.5 per cent of the 31,726 cases the province has had so far.

These numbers are all indicative of what everyone's been hoping for: that we're on the path to recovery and hopefully a full reopening in the near future.

As officials continue to learn more about the virus, patient demographics are shifting, with the bulk of new cases now coming from the GTA rather than Toronto, and most infections occurring in younger people.

Ontario Minister of Health Christine Elliott has said that with Stage 2 starting in most areas of the province today, many regions have very few or no new cases — a fantastic sign. (She also thankfully tested negative for COVID-19 after coming under fire for picking up some wine while awaiting her results earlier this week.)

Unfortunately, Friday's numbers reveal that another 11 people have succumbed to the communicable disease, for a total of 2,498 in Ontario since the health crisis began, making for a mortality rate of 7.9 per cent.

Lead photo by

IAEA Imagebank


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