Ontario just reported its lowest number of new COVID-19 patients since March

Ontario is straight up dominating in the fight against COVID-19 right now after more than eight weeks of serious, livelihood-threatening sacrifices on behalf of more than 14.5 million residents.

The province's Ministry of Health reports that only 258 new cases of the novel coronavirus were confirmed on Wednesday, representing the lowest number we've seen since March 29 when 211 new patients were logged.

With a total of 21,494 confirmed cases, this represents an all-time low one day increase rate of just 1.2 per cent.

Though 33 new deaths were registered through the province's integrated Public Health Information System on Wednesday, only 3,492 cases of COVID-19 remain active within the province. 

More than 1,798 people have died as a result of contracting the virus since January 15, according to the Ministry of Health, representing a mortality rate of 8.4 per cent. Zero would be ideal, of course, but the situation could have been much, much worse had the provincial government not taken action when it did.

#COVID19Ontario dashboard updated March 14 1030am.
- 21,494 cases +258 (lowest since March)
- 1,026 hospitalizations +8 (184 ICU)
- 492,487 tests + 17,578
- 1,798 deaths + 33 (lowest since 4/26)
- 4.4% test positivity, lowest since April 1#COVIDCanada https://t.co/zKoRbG4ELa pic.twitter.com/X3uAZrgTtI

— 📊Bill Comeau #StayAtHome. #MaskinStores (@Billius27) May 14, 2020

Fortunately, recovery rates continue to soar: As of Wednesday, 16,204 cases of COVID-19 had been marked as "resolved" by the province, representing more than three-quarters of all patients at 75.4 per cent.

The news is encouraging in light of recent data trends and announcements from the province.

Today, after more than two weeks of watching numbers decline steadily (with a few moderate spikes along the way), Premier Doug Ford's government is expected to announce what Stage One of his administration's reopening plan for Ontario's economy will look like.

All current emergency orders will remain in place until at least June 2, meaning that life won't go straight back to normal just because new case numbers are falling.

Ford did say in a press conference earlier this week, however, that Ontario has been "building a solid foundation for the cautious reopening of our province."