Ontario reporting 615 new COVID-19 cases, five new deaths

Ontario is reporting 615 new cases of COVID-19 and five new deaths.

This is the eighth straight day the province’s daily case count exceeded 500.

Another 541 cases have been marked as resolved.

Provincial figures put the number of active cases of COVID-19 at 5,474.

According to data released Monday, 38,196 tests were completed the previous day.

Another 68,006 remain under investigation.

The province paused walk-in testing at COVID-19 assessment centres to catch up on the backlog.

Centres will re-open on Tuesday but tests will be done by appointment only.

Toronto, Peel and Ottawa continue to lead in new cases.

There are 176 people hospitalized with the virus. Of those, 43 are in intensive care and 26 of those are on ventilators.

The province also reported 56 new COVID-19 cases related to schools, including at least 31 among students.

Those bring the number of schools with a reported case to 335 out of Ontario’s 4,828 publicly funded schools.