COVID-19 hospitalizations in Ontario reach 1,486, ICU admissions increase to 206

Hospitalizations linked to COVID-19 in Ontario have increased to 1,486 as the number of patients in the ICU with the virus grows to 206.

Tuesday’s report marks the highest number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 since February 15 when 1,550 were receiving care. On Monday, health officials said there were 1,301 individuals being treated, though not all hospitals report patient data over the weekend.

Of the patients currently in hospital, 954 are fully vaccinated, 193 are unvaccinated, and 65 are partially vaccinated. No other vaccination information was released by the government.

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Data on incidental hospitalizations shows 55 per cent of those patients were admitted for a non-COVID-19-related illness, but have since tested positive. Meanwhile, 45 per cent are being treated for COVID-19.

In the ICU -- which has seen an increase of four admissions in the last 24 hours -- 83 patients are fully vaccinated, 31 are unvaccinated, and two are partially vaccinated. The vaccination status of the remaining patients was not released.

Sixty-four per cent of those patients are in the ICU due to COVID-19 while 36 per cent tested positive after they were admitted.

Last week, Ontario’s science table released new modelling that suggests hospitalizations related to the virus will continue to rise in the coming weeks and that the province could see more than 600 people in the ICU at the peak of this wave in a worst-case scenario.

The province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, has said Ontario’s health-care system is now better suited to handle such a surge amid the sixth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, one additional death due to COVID-19 was reported overnight, pushing the province’s death toll to 12,633.

At least 15,322 swabs were processed across the province in the same time period, which the ministry of health said produced a positivity rate of 17.9 per cent. Officials said 1,218 positive cases were identified through those tests, though that number is an underestimate due to limited access to PCR testing.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Ontario has seen 1,223,461 lab-confirmed cases and 1,176,875 recoveries.