Ontario reports record-breaking new COVID-19 cases with 1,589

The Government of Ontario confirmed 1,589 new COVID-19 cases on Monday morning, the highest daily count since the pandemic began.

This is an increase from high numbers on the weekend with Saturday’s record-breaking 1,588 at the time and Sunday’s 1,534.

Monday’s reported cases also continue high daily counts from last week with Friday’s 1,418, Thursday’s 1,210, Wednesday’s 1,417, Tuesday’s 1,249, Monday’s 1,487, and Sunday’s 1,248. Daily cases have been consistently over 1,000 for over two weeks.

The province is also reporting 1,484 more resolved cases and 19 more deaths.

Of the newly announced cases, 535 are in Peel, 336 are in Toronto, and 205 in York Region.

According to Health Minister Christine Elliott, 37,500 tests were completed. The province currently has the capacity to do 50,000 tests daily.

Ontario is reporting 1,589 cases of #COVID19. Locally, there are 535 new cases in Peel, 336 in Toronto and 205 in York Region. There are 1,484 more resolved cases and nearly 37,500 tests completed.

Today’s numbers will be available at 10:30 a.m. at https://t.co/ypmgZbVRvn.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) November 23, 2020

On Friday, Premier Doug Ford announced that Toronto and Peel Region would be placed under a lockdown beginning on November 23.

“Lockdown” is the highest level in the government’s COVID-19 response framework and brings new public health measures to the regions.

Some of the new restrictions include that retail stores can only offer curbside pick-up or delivery, and restaurants can only be open for pick-up, drive-through, and delivery. No indoor gatherings will be allowed except with members of the same household, and outdoor gatherings are limited to 10 people.

Grocery stores, liquor stores, and pharmacies remain open with limited capacity.

To date, Ontario has seen 103,967 COVID-19 cases and 3,505 deaths.