Province reports 535 cases of variants of concern, total infection figure nears 300,000
Ontario reported 1,185 new cases of COVID-19 and 16 new deaths on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Health.
The new figures bring the province's total case count near 300,000, with 299,754 infections recorded since the start of the pandemic.
The new cases include 331 in Toronto, 220 in Peel Region and 119 in York Region.
Ontario's lab network completed over 59,400 tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and logged a test positivity rate of 2.1 per cent, according to health minister Christine Elliott.
The number of people hospitalized with the novel coronavirus stands at 680. Of that number, 276 were in the ICU and 182 required a ventilator to breathe.
The new deaths bring the provincial total of COVID-19-related fatalities to 6,960.
Of the total provincial case count, 282,315 cases have been marked as resolved, up by 984 since yesterday.
According to Saturday's update from the Ministry of Health, Ontario reported an additional 42 cases of variants of concern, bringing the provincial total up to 535.