After a slightly worrisome spike in the number of new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, Ontario's Ministry of Health is once again sharing good news pertaining to the deadly pandemic.

Only 103 new coronavirus infections were recorded through the province's integrated Public Health Information System yesterday, down from 165 the day previous and 203 the day before that.

Better yet, nobody died (that we know of) as a result of COVID-19 over the same period of time, making today's daily case update the second ever with zero deaths reported.

With 2,755 deaths recorded in total since the pandemic first hit in January, Ontario is now posting a mortality rate of 7.2 per cent.

#COVID19 in #Ontario [July 23]:
38210 known cases* (103 new cases)
2755 total deaths (ZERO new deaths!🙏🏻)

See THREAD for more graphs📈⤵️#covid19Canada #COVIDー19 #onhealth #COVID_19 #covidontario #COVID19ontario #onpoli pic.twitter.com/kQ22R0wjGG

— Dr. Jennifer Kwan (@jkwan_md) July 23, 2020

The province's recovery rate continues to rise as infected residents self-isolate and the rest of us practice physical distancing in order to prevent potential asymptomatic spread of the virus. 

More than 33,963 of Ontario's total 38,210 cases are now considered "resolved" by public health officials, making for an overall recovery rate of 88.9 per cent.

It remains to be seen how the lifting of restrictions under Stage 3 of the province's economic reopening plan will affect numbers moving forward, as the first 24 of 24 public health regions only entered Stage 3 on Friday.

Today, Ontario is reporting 103 cases of #COVID19, a 0.3% increase. Locally, 28 of Ontario’s 34 PHUs are reporting five or fewer cases, with fully 21 of them reporting no new cases. Ottawa is down to 14 cases with Windsor-Essex reporting 23.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) July 23, 2020

Seven more public health regions have been given the green light to reopen this Friday, leaving only Toronto, Peel and Windsor-Essex behind in Stage 2.

This may be a good thing for case numbers, however, as doctors fear that allowing indoor bars to reopen in big cities could lead to the same type of spikes seen in other provinces, states and countries recently.

Mayor John Tory has asked Premier Doug Ford to make masks mandatory inside bars and restaurants within Canada's largest city, at the very least, among other recommendations.

While masks are currently required in Toronto under the city's own Mandatory Mask or Face Covering Bylaw, Tory hopes that compliance will rise if Ford legally mandates the measure, and that we can avoid a Florida-like situation here in Ontario.