Ontario is reporting the most COVID-19 cases in the province in more than three months.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said there were 313 new infections detected Sunday when 31,143 tests were conducted.
That’s the most in one day since there were 415 on June 7 when there were 19,374 tests done.
The news comes as millions of Ontario school children are back in classrooms for the first time in six months.
Elliott noted more than three-quarters of the cases are from three regions with 112 in Toronto, 71 in Peel Region, and 60 in Ottawa.
“All other PHUs (public health units) have fewer than 10 new cases, except for York with 13 cases. Fifteen PHUs have no new cases,” she said on Twitter Monday.
The minister noted “67 per of today’s cases are in people under the age of 40.”
Queen’s Park says 2,816 people have died from the virus since the outbreak struck in March. Data reconciliation actually lowered the death toll by one from the day before.
The Star has determined there have been at least 2,855 COVID-19 deaths in Ontario. That difference of 39 deaths is because some deaths were not included in official tallies early in the pandemic.
There are 47 COVID-19 patients in Ontario hospitals, 17 of whom are in intensive-care units. Of those, eight are on ventilators.
Across the province, there are 1,848 active cases. That’s the most since July 4 when there were 1,886.
At the peak of the pandemic in April, Ontario was averaging nearly 600 new cases daily. The highest was April 24 with 640 infections reported when just 12,295 tests were conducted.
The vast majority of the province’s COVID-19 patients have since recovered, and the recent rise in cases has not yet resulted in a significant jump in hospitalizations or deaths.
