Ontario sees drop in rate of COVID-19 deaths

Daily increase in new coronavirus infections down from April peak

Ontario’s regional health units are reporting another 331 COVID-19 cases and 24 new deaths in 24 hours as recent trends continued into the long weekend, according to the Star’s latest count.

As of 5 p.m. Sunday, the health units had reported a total of 24,114 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19, including 1,984 deaths.

In recent days, the trend in new coronavirus cases has been relatively flat, with an average of about 360 new cases per day reported over the past week.

Still, as a whole, the daily growth in new coronavirus infections across Ontario has fallen sharply since peaking at more than 700 cases a day in late April.

Meanwhile, the total of 24 deaths reported in the province since Saturday was well below the recent average, a sign the rate of deaths in the province has turned a corner after peaking at more than 90 in a day earlier this month, about two weeks after the peak in the daily case totals.

Because many health units publish tallies to their websites before reporting to Public Health Ontario, the Star’s count is more current than the data the province puts out each morning.

Earlier Sunday, the province reported 934 patients are now hospitalized with COVID-19, including 171 in intensive care, of whom 129 are on a ventilator — numbers that have fallen slightly in the last three days after remaining largely flat in recent weeks.

The province also says more than 17,000 patients who have tested positive for the coronavirus have now recovered from the disease — nearly threequarters of the total infected.

The province says its data is accurate to 4 p.m. the previous day.

The province also cautions its latest count of total deaths — 1,881 — may be incomplete or out of date due to delays in the reporting system, saying that in the event of a discrepancy, “data reported by (the health units) should be considered the most up to date.”

The Star’s count includes some patients reported as “probable” COVID-19 cases, meaning they have symptoms and contacts or travel history that indicate they very likely have the disease, but have not yet received a positive lab test.

There are 76,944 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada, and 5,781 people have died. Quebec has been the most affected province, with 42,920 cases and more than 3,500 deaths.