Ontario reports total of 1,540 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 402 in ICU

Ontario health officials reported another drop in the number of people with COVID-19 in hospital and intensive care units across Ontario on Sunday.

The province said 1,540 people are currently in hospital with COVID-19, which is down from the 1,704 reported on Saturday. The number of people in ICU also fell from 414 to 402.

The province warned that the number of people in hospital may be higher as not all the hospitals report their data over the weekend.

The province also reported that 22 more people have died due to COVID-19.

A spokesperson for Ontario Ministry of Health confirmed the 22 deaths reported on Sunday happened over the past 26 days.

The province said one of the deaths occurred on Feb. 12, six of the deaths occurred on Feb. 11, five of the deaths occurred on Feb. 10, and the remaining 10 deaths occurred previous to that.

Officials said there have been a total 12,093 COVID-19-related deaths in the province since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

According to data released by the Ontario Science Table on Saturday, which takes into account population sizes, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 83.9 per cent less likely to end up in hospital and 90.4 per cent less likely to end up in ICU compared to people who are unvaccinated.

The province reported 2,265 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, but health officials have warned that number is an underestimate due to testing limitations and backlogs.

With 13,998 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province's positivity rate is about 11.8 per cent.

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 259 new cases in Peel Region, 249 new cases in Toronto, 115 new cases in York Region, 99 new cases in Halton Region and 97 new cases in Durham Region.

Officials reported 119 new cases in Simcoe-Muskoka, 107 new cases in Ottawa and 102 new cases in Hamilton.

All other regions reported fewer than 100 new cases on Sunday.

The province said that of the 2,265 new cases reported today, 1,553 involve people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses, 330 involve people who are unvaccinated, 77 involve people who are partially vaccinated and 305 involve people who have an unknown vaccination status.

Acknowledging population size, the science table noted on Saturday, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 61.6 per cent less likely to contract COVID-19 compared to those who are unvaccinated.

The province deemed 3,172 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Sunday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 1,033,595.

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 1,072,720.

The province reported 43 resident cases and 79 staff cases in long-term care settings across Ontario. It also noted that five of the 22 deaths reported on Sunday were long-term care residents.

Officials stated that at least 197 long-term care homes are currently dealing with an outbreak.