Ontario reported 1,489 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday and 22 more deaths, as hospitalizations across the province hit their lowest point since before the Boxing Day 2020 lockdown came into effect.

Across the GTA, Toronto reported 517 new cases, York reported 121 new cases, and Peel reported 261 new cases.

Durham Region reported 50 new cases, Halton reported 61 cases and Hamilton reported 88 new cases.

Ontario reported 1,388 new cases on Saturday, along with 1,670 on Friday and 1,563 on Thursday.

Of the 22 deaths, 13 involved residents of the long-term care system.

There have now been 6,505 deaths due to COVID-19 in Ontario since March 2020.

There are now 14,799 active cases of infection across the province, down from 19,000 one week ago.

More than 256,000 people infected in Ontario have made full recoveries.

Provincial labs completed 51,658 test specimens in the past 24 hours; a further 16,539 remain under investigation.

Meanwhile, the tally of hospitalized COVID-19 patients across the province fell to 926 on Sunday, the lowest it has been since Dec. 21.

Of those, 335 were in intensive care and 233 were breathing with the help of a ventilator.

A further 6,518 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the past 24 hours, bringing Ontario’s total to 379,184.

More than 100,000 people have now finished the full two-dose inoculation.

Ten new cases of coronavirus variants detected in the province

Public Health Ontario says ten additional cases of coronavirus variants of concern have been confirmed across the province, bringing the provincial tally to 175 since December.

Of those, 174 are the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the United Kingdom and one is the B.1.351 variant first detected in South Africa.

Provincial officials predict the B.1.1.7 variant will become dominant in Ontario by sometime in March.