Ontario health officials reported 826 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday and nine new deaths, on much stronger rates of testing that sent the positivity rate lower.
Ontario reported 841 new cases on Thursday, 790 on Wednesday and 821 on Tuesday.
“Locally, there are 292 new cases in Toronto, 186 in Peel, 87 in Ottawa and 72 in York Region,” Health Minister Christine Elliott wrote on Twitter. “There are 733 more resolved cases.”
Over the past seven days, 49 people have died of an infection in the province.
The positivity rate generated by Friday’s results was about 2.1 per cent, with about 40,000 tests completed.
Another 35,000 test specimens were under investigation.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch said that the trend of case growth in Ontario, and especially in the GTA, really needs to turn a corner in the next week.
“I am really looking for a pivot or a change or at least some signs that there may be a reduction in cases soon, probably over the next four to seven days,” Bogoch told CP24. “Because that was around the two-week mark from when we had some policy that was implemented.”
There are now 6,474 active cases of novel coronavirus infection in Ontario, up from 5,873 one week ago.
The province says 3,080 people have died of the virus since March and 58,799 have recovered.
Three of the nine deaths reported on Friday involved residents of long-term care homes.
Elsewhere in the GTA, Durham Region reported 38 cases, Halton Region reported 34 cases and Hamilton reported 15.
Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
News source: CP24
