Ontario reports 477 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, 63 more deaths

Ontario is reporting 477 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, and 63 more deaths.

The latest numbers bring the total number of cases to 19,598, including 1,540 deaths and 13,990 resolved cases.

The total number of cases represents a 2.5 increase over Thursday.

There are 1,028 people in hospital with COVID-19 and 213 people in intensive care units, a slight drop since yesterday. However, the number of people on ventilators rose by eleven to 166.

The province says 397,149 tests have been completed since Jan. 15. More than 16,000 tests were done of Thursday and 14,641 cases are currently under investigation.

Nine more outbreaks have been declared at long-term care homes in Ontario, bringing the total to 234.

As of Thursday, Niagara had 546 confirmed cases of COVID-19, Hamilton had 474, and Halton Region reported 508.