The Ontario Ministry of Health has confirmed a small dip in new cases of COVID-19 today, with a total of 548 new infections reported by public health units throughout the province.

This comes after 615 new cases were reported yesterday, and 566 new cases were reported the previous day.

Nearly half of all cases reported each day continue to come from Toronto, with 201 of today's new infections in the city, according to Health Minister Christine Elliott.

She said another 90 are in Peel, 62 are in Ottawa and 56 are in York Region.

Ontario is reporting 548 cases of #COVID19 as over 42,000 tests were completed. Locally, there are 201 new cases in Toronto, 90 in Peel, 62 in Ottawa and 56 in York Region. 61% of today’s cases are in people under the age of 40. There are 546 more resolved cases.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) October 6, 2020

The majority of new cases also continue to be in those under the age of 40, with 61 per cent of today's cases among individuals within that age category.

Tragically, the province is reporting seven new deaths today. And with 546 new cases considered to be resolved, there are now 5,469 active cases of COVID-19 in Ontario. 

Of those cases, 192 are in hospital, 41 are in ICUs and 26 are on ventilators.

The province meanwhile completed more than 42,000 tests yesterday, marking an improvement from the nearly 38,200 tests administered in the previous day but still shy of the government's 50,000 goal. 

#COVID19 in #Ontario [Oct 6]:
55362 known cases* (548 new cases)
2987 total deaths (7 new deaths)
46906 resolved (546 new resolved)

See THREAD for more graphs📈⤵️#onhealth #COVID19ontario #onpoli pic.twitter.com/C6JSRiHxtS

— Dr. Jennifer Kwan (@jkwan_md) October 6, 2020

Starting today, COVID-19 assessment centres throughout Ontario are no longer accepting walk-ins and symptomatic individuals instead have to make an appointment before getting tested.

This change was made as a result of excessively long lineups reported outside assessment centres in recent weeks, but some experts say it could lead to a reduction in testing numbers and, therefore, inaccurately lower case numbers. 

Toronto's top doctor has also repeatedly called on the province to shut down indoor dining, among other restrictions, in the city as case numbers continue to rise at an alarming rate, but Premier Doug Ford said yesterday that he wants to see more data before making such a drastic decision and subsequently ruining lives.