Ontario reports total of 1,106 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 319 in ICU

Ontario health officials are reporting a total of 1,106 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 319 people in the province’s intensive care units.

The number of people in hospital with the disease increased on Wednesday from 1,038 on Tuesday to 1,106 today. The lower number on Tuesday may have been due to some hospitals not reporting their data over the Family Day long weekend.

The number of people in intensive care has been steadily decreasing for weeks, but on Wednesday the number remained at 319, the same as the day before.

The province reported that 49 per cent of the 1,106 people in hospital are primarily there due to COVID-19, while the remaining 51 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have now tested positive for the virus.

Officials said about 77.5 per cent of patients are in ICU primarily due to COVID-19, while 22.5 per cent of cases are there primarily for other reasons, but also have the virus.

The province said that 100 of the people in ICU are fully vaccinated, 90 are unvaccinated and 10 are partially vaccinated. The remaining 119 have an unknown vaccination status.

According to data released by the Ontario Science Table on Tuesday, which takes into account population sizes, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 83.2 per cent less likely to end up in hospital and 92.2 per cent less likely to end up in ICU compared to people who are unvaccinated.

The province also reported that 19 more people have died due to COVID-19 over the past 24 days. A Ministry of Health spokesperson said one of the deaths occurred on Feb. 22, eight deaths occurred on Feb. 21, one deaths occurred on Feb. 20 and the remaining nine deaths occurred previous to that.

Officials said there have been a total 12,306 COVID-19-related deaths in the province since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Officials said one death was removed from the cumulative total following a data cleaning.

The province reported 1,425 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, but health officials have warned that number is an underestimate due to testing limitations and backlogs.

With 15,692 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province's positivity rate is about 10.8 per cent.

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 224 new cases in Toronto, 95 new cases in Peel Region, 81 new cases in York Region, 74 new cases in Durham Region and 38 new cases in Halton Region.

Officials also reported 72 new cases in Ottawa, 67 new cases in Algoma and 66 new cases in the Kingston area. All other regions reported fewer than 60 new cases on Wednesday.

Acknowledging population size, the science table noted in their latest data report on Monday, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 55.5 per cent less likely to contract COVID-19 compared to those who are unvaccinated.

The province deemed 2,701 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Wednesday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 1,060,530.

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 1,091,526.

The province reported 38 resident cases and 51 staff cases in long-term care settings across Ontario. Five of the 19 deaths reported on Wednesday were residents in long-term care, the province stated. Officials said that at least 95 long-term care homes are currently dealing with an outbreak.