Ontario saw a slight dip in new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday with an additional 551 cases reported in the province.

The number is down from the record-high 606 new cases reported on Monday.

The total number of cases in the province now stands at 11,735, including 622 deaths and 5,806 recoveries.

The new numbers come one day after provincial health officials released modelling data suggesting that the spread of COVID-19 within the community has likely reached its peak in Ontario, a milestone that wasn't expected to be reached until sometime in May.

While the modelling indicates that community spread may be under control, there still appears to be an "accelerating upswing of the curve" in long-term care and other congregate settings.

Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said he estimates that about 100 of the 551 new cases represent residents and staff in long-term care.

According to data released by the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 400 deaths linked to long-term care homes. Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario's associate chief medical officer of health, told reporters that 399 long-term care residents infected with COVID-19 and one staff member have died to date, accounting for roughly two-thirds of all virus-related deaths in the province.

"We are cautiously optimistic about community spread... But the spread in long-term care and other congregate settings seems to be growing," she said.

There are currently 128 outbreaks in long-term care homes.

The number of people hospitalized from COVID-19 has risen to 859, up 57 from one day earlier. There are 250 people in intensive care, up from 247 on Monday.

The province has been ramping up testing in recent days, with a total of 174,170 tests completed to date and more than 9,000 tests conducted on Monday.

There are currently 5,546 specimens still under investigation, according to the new data released Tuesday.

Officials have provided few details about what benchmarks will need to be reached in order to begin easing restrictions in the province.

"We can’t wait till we get no cases for two weeks. We may be in our current state for a very long time if we do that, but we do need to have a very good system of active surveillance and identifying cases," Yaffe said.

"We need to also look at also increasing testing in the community as we go along and making sure we have the capacity both testing public health and health care to deal with each case quickly and following up all the contacts quickly. I think that is more of the criteria than waiting until we have no cases for two weeks."

Other highlights from today's data:

• Health care workers account for close to 12 per cent of all cases

• About 30.5 per cent of cases have been attributed to community transmission

• 5,806 cases are now considered to be resolved (about 50 per cent of all confirmed cases)

• Public health units in the Greater Toronto Area account for about 58 per cent of all cases

• About 44 per cent of people infected with COVID-19 are over the age of 60

• Nearly 12 per cent of cases involve hospitalization

• Women account for about 57 per cent of all confirmed cases and men represent about 42 per cent of cases (no gender was reported in 117 cases)