Ontario confirms 323 new COVID-19 cases, 17 more deaths

Ontario reported 323 new cases of novel coronavirus on Saturday as the province surpassed 20,000 tests for the first time.

That brings the provincial total to 27,533 cases, which is an increase of 1.2 per cent over the previous day.

For the third straight day the number of new cases declined. There were 344 on Friday and 383 on Thursday.

The province also hit their daily testing target for the first time, conducting 20,640 tests in the previous 24 hour period – an all-time high. The province currently has a daily capacity of nearly 25,000.

The province also reported 17 more people have died, bringing the total death count to 2,247.

Of those deaths, 1,423 were in long-term care, Public Health Ontario reports. The Ministry of Long-Term Care reports that 1636 people who have died were in long-term care – a discrepancy attributed to a lag in reported deaths.

The province also confirmed five more outbreaks in long-term care facilities, bringing the total to 305 outbreaks in homes.

Toronto Public Health reported 123 new cases of COVID-19 in the city as the total case count climbed to over 11,000.

For only the second time in last five days, the number of resolved cases (156) has surpassed the number of new cases.

Eight more deaths were reported for a total of 818 in the city.

The seven day average of new cases is down to 170 from 207 a week ago.

Coronavirus patients in hospital, in the ICU and on ventilators remained relatively unchanged.