Said the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health "Alexandra Hilken" in a statement issued on Friday afternoon: "Starting June 16, the Ontario Public Health Agency (PHO) will move to weekly reports and will publish the latest COVID-19 data every Thursday."

Since January 2020, the province has been publishing spreadsheets about hospital admissions, ICU admissions, and the count of virus-related cases.

Moving away from these daily reports is part of a broader trend towards easing COVID-19 related restrictions in Ontario. This update comes as the province prepares to end the mask mandate on Saturday, which is one of the last remaining public health precautions still in place in the province.

From now on, masks will no longer be required on public transit, in hospitals, and shelters. The Ministry of Health says that the Public Health Office will continue to monitor trends and prepare reports as needed in the coming weeks and months.

This data will remain available in the province's Open Data list. In addition to the frequency of their updates, the province is also working to reduce "duplicate reporting," such as data related to COVID-19 cases in long-term care homes and schools.

Public health units and other school boards will continue to provide this information, but it will not be included in the regional dataset.

Health officials say this transition follows similar decisions made by many Canadian regions, such as British Columbia and Alberta. Also, due to the fact that Ontario ended the vaccine program verification months ago, Verify Ontario will be officially removed from the app store by June 24.