Ontario reports 4,183 patients in hospital with COVID-19, at least 580 in the ICU

The number of patients in an Ontario hospital with COVID-19 rose to 4,183 on Tuesday as ICU admissions related to the virus reached 580.

That’s an increase of 296 hospitalizations over Monday's report and an increase of two patients in intensive care.

Of the patients in hospital, 53.5 per cent were admitted due to a COVID-19-related illness and 46.5 per cent tested positive after they were admitted for another reason.

In the ICU, 82.1 per cent of the patients were admitted for COVID-19 while 17.9 per cent tested positive after the fact.

The vaccination status of those in hospital include 2,050 fully vaccinated patients, 739 unvaccinated patients, and 195 partially vaccinated patients. The vaccination status of the remaining 1,199 patients is unknown, according to the government.

In the ICU, 196 patients are fully vaccinated, 195 patients are unvaccinated, and 17 patients are partially vaccinated. No vaccination information was provided for the remaining 172 patients. 

At least 7,086 new cases of COVID-19 were reported across the province in the last 24 hours. However, health officials have warned that case counts are likely an underestimate of the true number of infections in Ontario due to limited testing for the virus.

More than 5,400 of those cases were identified in individuals who are fully vaccinated, 1,087 were found in unvaccinated individuals, and 245 were found in partially vaccinated individuals. The vaccination status of the remaining 314 cases is unknown.

Tuesday’s report comes a day after Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore suggested that key indicators related to Ontario’s fight against COVID-19 appear to be headed in the right direction.

“I’m starting to have much more hope,” Dr. Kieran Moore told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll on Monday. “The number of cases is decelerating instead of accelerating in terms of hospitalizations and ICUs.”

Earlier this month, Ontario introduced new public health measures in an effort to ease the strain on the province’s health-care system amid a wave of Omicron-fuelled COVID-19 infections.

Those measures include the suspension of indoor dining at restaurants, capacity limits at malls and personal care services, and the closure of gyms and movie theatres.

FORD SAYS 'POSITIVE NEWS' IS COMING

Those measures are set to expire on Jan. 26 at the earliest, though Premier Doug Ford said his government will announce "some positive news" this week on loosening those restrictions.

"We'll have some positive news. I believe we’re going to make some announcements later this week about going back to other levels of restrictions," Ford told Newstalk 580 CFRA's The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll on Tuesday.

Since yesterday, 38 deaths linked to COVID-19 were reported pushing the province’s COVID-19 death toll to 10,666. Thirty-seven of those deaths occurred in the previous month and one death occurred a month before that but are only being recorded now due to a "data cleaning," according to the Ministry of Health.

With 31,355 tests performed in the last 24 hours, Ontario’s positivity rate sits at 24.5 per cent.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES?

Most of the cases reported by the province on Tuesday were found in Toronto (1,628), Peel Region (1,106), and York Region (545).

Other areas with high case counts logged include Durham Region (465), Halton Region (418), Ottawa (333), and Hamilton (327).

UPDATE ON COVID-19 VACCINATIONS

As of Tuesday, 91.4 per cent of Ontarians over the age of 12 have one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 88.7 per cent have two doses and are considered to be fully vaccinated.

More than 39,400 needles were administered on Monday alone and 29,561,731 shots have gone into arms across Ontario since the province’s vaccination campaign began.

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Michael Woods