Ontario’s single-day COVID-19 caseload drops to 554 after Monday’s record high

Ontario confirms 554 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, a drop from the record-breaking 700 cases reported Monday.

In a tweet, Minister of Health Christine Elliott said nearly 38,400 tests were completed in the previous day.

Toronto remains the virus hotspot in Ontario, with the most new cases (251) followed by Ottawa (106) and Peel (79).

Elliott said 62 per cent of Tuesday’s cases are in people under the age of 40.

Four more people have died, raising the provincial death toll to 2,844.

Before Monday’s record high of 700, the previous high was 640 new cases reported on April 24.

On Monday, Premier Doug Ford said the province is now officially in the midst of the pandemic’s second wave.

Ford said the second wave would be more complex and “worse” than the first wave, and added that “everything is on the table” when it comes to stemming the spike in cases.

He said the province has committed to spending $52 million to hire and train thousands of new health workers, including 800 more nurses, 600 acute care nurses for hospitals and long-term care homes, and 2,000 more personal support workers.

Meanwhile Toronto’s top doctor said she’ll be recommending further restrictions on bars and restaurants at Wednesday’s city council meeting.

Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health, said Monday that she will introduce the following recommendations:

• • Limit the number of people in bars/restaurants from 100 to 75
  • Collect contact information from all patrons
  • Reduce the number of people at a table from 10 to 6
  • Lower background music to conversational levels
  • Extend existing COVID-19 bylaws until the council’s first meeting of 2021

“There is an immediate and rising risk in Toronto of continued and significant COVID-19 resurgence,” de Villa stressed.”This is not the time to panic, it is the time to act.”