Ontario reports fewest COVID-19 cases in over a month

Ontario is reporting 2,716 new COVID-19 cases and 19 additional deaths on Monday.

It is the lowest daily increase of cases since April 1 and the fourth time in the last two weeks the province has reported fewer than 3,000 cases.

There were over 27,175 tests completed in the last 24 hour period, down from the more than 38,000 a day ago. Testing numbers are typically down earlier in the week.

The province’s test positivity rate is 9.1 per cent, down from 9.7 per cent a week ago.

Locally, there are 807 new cases in Toronto, 707 in Peel, 294 in York Region, 168 in Durham and 106 in Hamilton.

Resolved cases have now outnumbered new cases for 20 consecutive days. There were 3,110 resolved cases reported on Monday.

The province reported 3,216 cases and 47 deaths on Sunday. It marked the highest daily death toll since Feb. 19.

There are 1,632 people hospitalized in the province with 828 in intensive care units.

There were 94,093 vaccine doses administered in the last 24 hour period.

As of 8:00 p.m. Thursday, 6,238,778 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across Ontario.

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Ontario is expanding its COVID-19 vaccine eligibility across the province this week to residents 40 and older, essential workers and those with higher-risk health issues.

On Thursday morning at 8 a.m. the age eligibility will drop to include residents aged 40 and older.

Starting on Tuesday at 8 a.m., individuals with health conditions deemed “at risk” and Group Two of people who cannot work from home can begin booking through the province’s online booking portal.

Over the weekend, hundreds of pharmacies in COVID-19 hot spots began offering Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots to people aged 18 and over.

The province says it is on track to administer first doses to 65 per cent of adults by the end of May.

Ontario is just nine days away from the end of the current provincial stay-at-home order, but it is still not clear what restrictions, if any, will be lifted when the order expires.

Some reports indicated the Ford government would be meeting on Monday to talk about a possible extension of the order. The Premier’s office confirmed to 680 NEWS that a stay-at-home order extension is not on Monday’s agenda.

The expectation is any decision that is made will extend the order for at least two weeks, until June 2.