Ontario reports 1,050 new cases of COVID-19 in record-high daily increase

With a 28-day-long "modified Stage 2" lockdown period for COVID-19 hot spots including Toronto set to expire in just three days, Ontario's Ministry of Health is reporting a new record-high daily increase of 1,050 infections.

Previous to the numbers released on Tuesday morning, the highest number of new cases confirmed in one day was 1,042 on Sunday, October 25.

Of today's 1,050 new cases, 408 are from Toronto. Another 212 were confirmed in Peel, 86 in Halton, 76 in York Region and 57 in Durham Region.

#COVID19 in #Ontario [Nov 3]:
1050 new cases*, 14 deaths, 837 resolved
25279 tests/day, 20758 pending
357 hospitalized (73 in ICU)
See THREAD for more graphs📈⤵️#onhealth #COVID19ontario #onpol3 pic.twitter.com/62tsgWsZWT

— Dr. Jennifer Kwan (@jkwan_md) November 3, 2020

Some 837 new cases were reported as resolved over the last 24 hours, however, bringing the province's overall recovery rate to 85.4 per cent.

Ontario's mortality rate, meanwhile is currently at 4.0 per cent with 14 new deaths (a day-over-day increase of 100 per cent, according to the province's latest daily epidemiologic summary.)

It's unsettling, and slightly surprising news after Premier Doug Ford's comments last week about how infection rates were starting to level off.

Furthermore, with a relatively low 25,300 tests completed yesterday, some in the province are worried that infection rates could actually be much, much higher.

Ontario is reporting a new single-day high of 1,050 COVID-19 cases and a second-wave high of 14 new deaths, with just 25,279 completed tests.

Tuesday is a low day in the weekly testing cycle, so this is especially high.

7-day avg. is up to 950/daily.https://t.co/qbQq4IfAv8

— Ed Tubb (@EdTubb) November 3, 2020

Case numbers up, testing rates down, and restrictions in high-risk hot spot regions set to expire on Friday? Not a great look for Ontario.

Fortunately, Premier Ford and his team are expected to announce a new, tiered system for COVID-19 lockdown measures this afternoon.

And not a moment too soon: The rolling seven-day average for new cases is now 950, up from 885 just one week ago.