New cases of COVID-19 plummet in Ontario as recovery rates soar
Ontario's Ministry of Health has excellent news today for residents who've now been under one form or another of lockdown for three months straight: COVID-19 numbers just fell again.
Only eight deaths and 184 new cases of the viral disease were reported through the province's integrated Public Health Information System on Sunday, setting records for both data points in terms of lowest numbers recorded since Ontario started keeping track.
With a total of 32,370 cases of COVID-19 now confirmed across Ontario, this represents a daily increase rate of just 0.6 per cent.
It also marks the second day in a row that we've seen new case numbers come in below the 200 mark, which is one of the criteria Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams has said he'd like to see met consistently for at least two weeks before the government fully reopens its economy.
#Covid19Ontario Dashboard. Key trend indicators have turned green, let's work together to keep them trending that way. #Masks4Ontario #SocialDistancing #Onhealthhttps://t.co/zKoRbG4ELa pic.twitter.com/ucoFsS2Fb0
— 📊Bill Comeau (@Billius27) June 15, 2020
Much of the province is now in Stage 2 of the reopening process and more regions are expected to be added to the list today. There's a good chance, however, that Toronto won't be one of them.
Just over 79 per cent of today's new cases (146) were diagnosed in the Greater Toronto Area, which remains in Stage 1 as local healthcare providers work to stop the spread of the virus completely.
The province is still faring quite well in general, with hospitalization numbers and mortality rates falling, and recovery rates hitting an all-time high of 84.1 per cent in Monday's report.
Of all the province's cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic first hit, 27,213 are now considered to be resolved.
#COVID19Ontario Demographics Info
— Sal Vella (@salvella) June 15, 2020
By 416 versus GTA versus Rest of Province
By Public Health Unit and by Age Group
Baseline - daily growth - 0.6%
7 Day - 4.9% - lowest ever
Above that bad, below that good#COVID19Ontario
CC: @B2Bspecialist pic.twitter.com/7yD6qyzwT8
Testing levels also continue to exceed the provincial government's benchmark — which public health officials have said is essential for detecting new outbreaks quickly — with 21,751 tests completed on Sunday.
More than one million Ontarians have now been tested for the 2019 novel coronavirus. Just over 18,000 remain under investigation as of Monday morning.
"The downward trend in new cases is happening at a time when testing remains at historic levels," said Health Minister Christine Elliott on Monday of today's COVID figures.
"Locally, 28 of Ontario's 34 public health units are reporting five or fewer cases, with 18 of them reporting no new cases at all," she continued. "Hospitalizations continue to decline, with 19 fewer #COVID19-confirmed patients in hospital today."
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