Ontario COVID-19 hospitalizations continue upward trend with 707 patients receiving care

Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 are continuing their upward trend in Ontario Saturday as the province reports 707 patients receiving care, including 157 patients in intensive care units.

Saturday’s hospitalizations case count marks an increase over the 667 reported on Friday and the 661 reported on Thursday.

Forty-seven per cent of current hospitalized patients were admitted for COVID and 53 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for the virus.

The total number of patients in intensive care units across Ontario, on the other hand, marked a slight drop from 161 ICU total reported the day before.

Officials also reported nine new net deaths due to COVID-19. Officials said five of the deaths occurred over the past 30 days, while four of them took place over a month ago.

Since the start of the pandemic, 12,397 individuals have lost their lives due to the disease.

The province reported 2,754 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, but health officials have warned that number is an underestimate due to testing limitations and backlogs.

With 17,341 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province's positivity rate is about 13.5 per cent.

The province deemed 1,921 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Saturday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 1,120,117

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 1,151,090.