Ontario reports 1,455 COVID-19 hospitalizations, ICU admissions rise to 219

The number of patients in an Ontario hospital with COVID-19 has risen to 1,455 as ICU admissions climb to 219.

Monday’s data shows an increase over the 1,362 hospitalizations and 212 ICU admissions reported a day earlier. It should be noted that not all hospitals report patient data over the weekends.

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Information on incidental admissions and the vaccination status of those hospitalized was not released.

The data shows that 13,247 tests were processed in the last 24 hours, which the health ministry said generated a positivity rate of 15. 3 per cent.

While access to PCR testing is limited to select high-risk groups in Ontario, the tests that were performed identified 2,028 lab-confirmed cases of the virus.

Two additional deaths due to COVID-19 were also reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the province’s death toll to 12,736.

Ontario has seen 1,244,186 COVID-19 infections since the pandemic began and 1,197,545 individuals have recovered following a lab-confirmed infection.

The head of the province’s COVID-19 science table said last week that novel coronavirus infections may rise following the Easter weekend.

However, Dr. Peter Juni also said that recent wastewater data shows a possible peak in transmission. As well, he said the number of health-care workers testing positive for COVID-19 and test positivity have also plateaued.