Ontario confirms 64 deaths related to COVID-19 with 626 people in ICU

Another 64 COVID-19 related deaths have been confirmed in Ontario as the number of people in intensive care reaches 626.

On Tuesday, health officials said that 4,008 people with COVID-19 are being treated in Ontario hospitals, including 626 in intensive care units (ICU).

Of those in the ICU, Health Minister Christine Elliott says that about 85 per cent of patients have been admitted for reasons associated with the novel coronavirus.

The remaining 15 per cent tested positive for the disease after being admitted for a different ailment.

Provincial vaccination data was not made available Tuesday morning.

The 64 deaths, confirmed in the last 24 hours but that occurred over the past 20 days, bring the province’s total pandemic death tally to 11,068. Ten of those deaths were identified in residents of long-term care.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said that 15 of the 64 deaths occurred on Jan. 23 and 24 deaths occurred on Jan. 22.

The remaining deaths occurred "in the preceding days."

"While this will not change the fact that these individuals tragically lost their lives, it is important to be transparent and provide the public with as much context as we can," Alexandra Hilkene said in a statement.

In the last week, the province confirmed 408 deaths due to COVID-19.

An additional 3,424 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases were logged on Tuesday; however, officials say that number is an underestimation due to a lack of testing.

The number of tests performed in the last 24 hours was not made available by the government, and, as a result, Ontario’s test positivity rate is unknown.

WHERE ARE THE COVID-19 CASES?

The majority of infections have been reported in the Greater Toronto Area, with the province identifying 570 cases in Toronto, 527 in Peel Region, 197 in York Region, 164 in Durham, and 124 in Halton.

Other municipalities reporting more than 100 COVID-19 cases include Ottawa (218), Hamilton (185), Waterloo (162), Windsor-Essex (159), Simcoe-Muskoka (141), Middlesex-London (129), and Niagara (123).

Of the lab-confirmed cases reported on Tuesday, 486 were identified in youth and children under the age of 19.

There were 1,260 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39 and another 899 cases in people between the ages of 40 and 60.

Seven hundred and seventy-six cases were identified in seniors over the age of 60.

TWO YEARS SINCE CANADA’S FIRST COVID-19 CASE

On Jan. 25, 2020 the first presumptive positive case of COVID-19 was identified at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto.

Two years later, there have been 1,004,879 lab-confirmed infections in Ontario alone, including deaths and recoveries.