Ontario reports lowest ICU count since November, 15 more COVID-19 deaths

Ontario is reporting its lowest intensive care occupancy since November while the province logs 15 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

On Tuesday, health officials said 808 people in hospital have tested positive for COVID-19, including 140 patients in the ICU. The last time the province recorded 140 intensive care admissions was on Nov. 26.

This comes a day after the province reported 611 people in hospital – the province's lowest COVID-19 hospitalization occupancy since March. However, health officials have noted that not all hospitals report their COVID-19 data over the weekend.

Forty-one per cent of patients hospitalized and 68 per cent of people in the ICU who tested positive for COVID-19 are receiving care for the virus. The remaining people who tested positive were admitted for other reasons.

Officials are reporting 14 additional COVID-19 deaths occurred over the last 30 days. One death happened more than a month ago and was added to the cumulative count due to data cleaning. Three of those fatalities were among long-term care residents.

The province is reporting 590 new COVID-19 cases, but health officials have warned that number is an underestimate due to restricted testing.

With 9,535 tests processed in the last 24-hours, Ontario is reporting a test positivity rate of 8.3 per cent. 

The province deemed 1,124 COVID-19 cases to be resolved as of Tuesday, bringing Ontario’s total number of resolved cases to 1,279,588.

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 1,303,033.