Ontario reports 415 new coronavirus cases, Toronto adds 362

Ontario reported 415 new cases of novel coronavirus on Sunday, however, more than half of them were due to a delay in adding new cases to the database.

In their daily report, health officials noted a change of 192 from the previous day’s report but for the second straight day they said another 223 cases were “impacted by a laboratory-to-public health reporting delay.”

The Ministry of Health provided no further explanation about the specifics of the delay.

There were 455 cases reported on Saturday, marking the fourth time in the last seven days that the number of new cases surpassed 400.

The rolling seven day average of new cases continues to inch upwards, now sitting at 394.

Another 19 people have died of COVID-19, bringing the total death count to 2,426 across the province.

Of those total deaths, 1,557 were in long-term care, Public Health Ontario reports. The Ministry of Long-Term Care reports that 1,719 people who have died were in long-term care – a discrepancy attributed to a lag in reported deaths.

The provincial total of confirmed cases now stands at 30,617 with 79.2 per cent considered resolved. More than 67 per cent of all cases in the province are from the GTA.

The province says just over 19,000 tests were completed in the previous 24 hour period marking the first time in three days testing numbers fell below 20,000.

The number of people in hospital dropped from 673 to 635, while there was no change in the number of people in intensive care. Five fewer people are on ventilators as of Sunday.

Toronto Public Health reported 362 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, a jump of 2.9 per cent over the previous day.

That brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in the city to 12,538 and the seven day rolling average to close to 200.

The spike in cases is being attributed to delayed reporting. CityNews reached out to city spokesperson Brad Ross for comment and he reiterated the city’s official statement which reads:

“The increase in new confirmed cases since the City’s last report date reflects the addition of 267 cases related to delayed reporting of cases to Toronto Public Health from William Osler Health System that are previously identified infections that occurred over the months of April and May.”

It has also been two weeks since thousands of people gathered at Trinity Bellwoods Park, flaunting social distancing guidelines. In addition, it has been more than two weeks since the Ford government unveiled phase one of the province’s reopening strategy, which relaxed some of the previous stay-at-home guidelines.

The city has not made a connection between the gatherings or easing of restrictions and the sudden increase in cases.

The city also reported 7 new deaths, bringing the total to 928.

Only 151 newly resolved cases were reported, bringing the city total to 9,623.

The total number of people in hospital remained relatively unchanged while patients in the ICU and on ventilators rose slightly.