Ontario records another 148 COVID-19 cases, its highest daily case count since July

Ontario reported an additional 148 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, itshighest daily case count since July 24.

The update brings the province's total number of cases to 42,083 since the novel coronavirus outbreak began in January.

In a series of tweets, Health Minister Christine Elliott said 27 of the province's 34 public health units reportedfive or fewer cases. Of those, 18 hadno new cases.

Toronto, Peel Regionand Ottawa contributedalmost two-thirds of Saturday's new cases, recording41, 32and 20 positive COVID-19 infections, respectively.

Windsorsaw a significant increase in cases with another 19 after recording only four cases on Friday. Theregion, which was the last to enter Stage 3 of the province's economic reopening plan, has been able to keep most of its daily case counts to the single digits the last week.

The rest of the cases wereprimarilyscattered among the Greater Toronto Area and southern Ontario.

After falling to below 80 on Aug.9, the five-day rolling average of new daily cases a measure that smoothes peaks and valleys in data has been trending upward since.

Meanwhile, the number of hospitalized patients declinedon Saturday after a slight increase the day before. Fifty-onepeople werein the hospital being treated for the novel coronavirus, 10fewerthan Friday. Only five patients were on ventilators,a significant drop from 12, and one less person is in the ICU. The province has confirmed that 38,126 of its total cases are consideredresolved.

No new deaths have been recorded in Ontario either, leaving the current toll at 2,809. A CBC News count based on data from public health units, a measure that avoids lag times in the provincial reporting system, however, puts the actual toll at 2,839.

The 0.4 per cent increasein cases on Saturday comes as Ontario's network of community, commercial and hospital labs processed more than 32,100 tests on Friday. So far, the province has processed more than 711,000 tests this month.

All of the figures can be found in the Ministry of Health's daily update, which includes data up until 4 p.m. the previous day. The number of cases for any particular region on agiven day may differ from what is reported by the local public health unit.