Published Thursday, April 30, 2020 10:30AM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, April 30, 2020 12:02PM EDT
It is by far the highest death toll reported in any 24-hour period so far, easily surpassing the 59 deaths reported on Tuesday.
The province has now confirmed 1,082 deaths in people who have contracted the virus, though an independent count of reporting by Ontario’s 34 public health units revealed that there have actually been 1,120 deaths as of 9:30 a.m.
The latest data from the Ministry of Health indicates that there were 459 new cases confirmed on Wednesday. That is up from the 347 cases reported one day prior but remains well off the record 640 cases reported on April 24. In fact in all but one of the six days since then, the province has reported fewer than 500 new cases.
That is after it six straight days in which the total surge passed that threshold. The decline also comes as the province also ramps up its testing in an effort to get to 14,000 daily tests by tomorrow. On Wednesday it conducted a record 12,928 tests.
“This is a positive trend, a positive trend that can give people hope that we are getting close to opening up,” Premier Doug Ford said at Queen’s Park on Wednesday afternoon. “I can’t give you dates right now but what I can give you is hope that we are getting closer. Every day we see that positive trend helps us get closer to the day that we open up.”
While the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 continues to rise with 22 more patients admitted over the last 24 hours for a total of 999, there has yet to be any significant spike within intensive care units.
The latest data reveals that there are now 233 COVID-19 patients in ICU’s provincewide. That number has been slowly trending downwards since reaching a high of 264 on April 9.
The number of those people on ventilators now stands at 181, which is down five from one day prior.
It should be noted that public health officials have said that they will need to see a “consistent” two-to-four week decline in new cases before they can begin to lift some of the restrictions that have largely brought public life to a standstill.
Even then, Ford has warned that he will only restart the economy “gradually” at first, a process he has likened to a “trickle.”
The data released on Thursday also reveals that the virus continues to be spreading within long-term care facilities, which Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams says now account for about 50 per cent of all new cases.
There are currently 190 outbreaks at Ontario long-term care homes, which is up nine from one day prior.
Those outbreaks have resulted in 2,385 confirmed cases among residents and 1,148 confirmed cases among staff. So far, more than three-quarters of all deaths (835) in COVID-19 patients have involved residents of long-term care facilities.
The total number of confirmed cases provincewide is 16,187.