The collective efforts of healthcare workers, government officials, business owners and everyday Ontarians appear to be paying off as we move into our eighth week of pandemic-mandated lockdown.

Only 370 new cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus were confirmed through the province's integrated Public Health Information System on Sunday, representing the lowest number we've seen since April 6 and the lowest percentage point increase to date at just 2.1 per cent.

A total of 17,923 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Ontario since January 15, but 12,005 of them are now considered to be "resolved."

#COVID19 testing in #Ontario🧪🇨🇦

-% positive <3% - (orange)👍🏻
-Testing per day increased (14555 today) (red)👍🏻
-Backlog: 6265 pending today (green)

Hope testing capacity continues to ramp up!#onhealth #COVIDー19 #COVID19ON #CovidTesting pic.twitter.com/pyPJRtzNDm

— Dr. Jennifer Kwan (@jkwan_md) May 4, 2020

The overall recovery rate for the virus sits at 68.4 per cent as of May 3, while the mortality rate is listed at 6.9 per cent.

Sadly, the number of total deaths continues to rise with 84 new fatalities reported by the Ministry of Health Monday morning, up from just 40 the day previous.

As of May 3, the province had confirmed 1,300 deaths related to the coronavirus, 626 among residents and patients of long-term care homes.

High as the numbers may seem, the province is finally starting to see a gradual decline in overall rates of infection, particularly when it comes to cases within the general community.

Latest #COVID19 #Ontario figures:
Cases - 17,923 +370 +2.1%
Recovered - 12,505 69.8%
Deaths - 1,300 +7.3%
Hospital - 984 -26
ICU - 225 -7
Ventilated - 175 +1
Lowest increase in cases so far is good plus less in hosp, big inc. in LTCH deaths though.#cdnpoli #onpoli #TOpoli

— 🇨🇦 Dr Gill Leighton 🇨🇦 (@DrGillLeighton) May 4, 2020

"While it's coming down slowly, it's having ups and downs and we'd like to see it progressing even quicker," said Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams, over the weekend.

"That means everyone needs to adhere to physical distancing as we’re not yet disrupting community transmission adequately at this time. So we want to stick to the task."

Williams had stated previously that he'd need to see a steady 200 new cases per day or less within the province, and for at least a few weeks, before emergency orders are lifted in full.

370 new cases … 2.1% growth rate - lowest for a long time

14555 tested - backlog at 6265 - less than 1/2 day’s - good

2.5% positive - staying low

Of the 370 new cases, 135 were from outbreaks in LTCs/retirement homes#COVID19#COVID19ON#COVID19Canada pic.twitter.com/W7TCBA67NN

— Sal Vella (@salvella) May 4, 2020

The province also stated in its framework for reopening the economy that Ontario would need to reach a point where it can perform enough tests per day to "detect new outbreaks quickly."

Some 14,555 COVID-19 tests were completed on Sunday, according to the province's dedicated coronavirus web portal — less than the 16,000 tests per day Premier Doug Ford had promised by May 6 as part of his revised testing targets last month, but a lot better than the 2,000-3,000 we were seeing each day in April at this time.

Canada is currently reporting 59,474 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the country with 3,682 deaths while the World Health Organization has recorded 3,349,786 cases and 238,628 deaths globally.