Ontario reports total of 1,550 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 384 in ICU

Ontario health officials are reporting a total of 1,550 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 384 people in the province’s intensive care units.

The number of people in intensive care has been steadily decreasing for weeks. Just a day earlier, officials reported that 394 people were in intensive care. On Sunday, officials reported 402 people in ICU.

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 reported occurred on Feb. 14, six deaths occurred on Feb. 13, four deaths occurred on Feb. 12 and the remaining eight deaths occurred previous to that.

Officials said there have been a total 12,120 COVID-19-related deaths in the province since the start of the pandemic.

The province reported that 54 per cent of the 2,059 people in hospital are primarily there due to COVID-19, while the remaining 46 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have now tested positive for the virus.

Officials said 79.5 per cent of patients are in ICU primarily due to COVID-19, while 20.5 per cent of cases are there primarily for other reasons, but also have the virus.

The province said that 137 of the people in ICU are fully vaccinated, 113 are unvaccinated and 13 are partially vaccinated. The remaining 121 have an unknown vaccination status.

According to data released by the Ontario Science Table on Monday, which takes into account population sizes, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 84.2 per cent less likely to end up in hospital and 90.8 per cent less likely to end up in ICU compared to people who are unvaccinated.

The province reported 1,593 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, but health officials have warned that number is an underestimate due to testing limitations and backlogs.

With 12,961 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province's positivity rate is about 11.9 per cent.

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 223 new cases in Toronto, 129 new cases in Peel Region, 63 new cases in York Region, 56 new cases in Durham Region and 39 new cases in Halton Region.

Officials also reported 159 new cases in Ottawa and 136 new cases in Simcoe-Muskoka. All other regions reported fewer than 100 new cases on Tuesday.

The province said that of the 1,593 new cases reported today, 998 involve people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses, 260 involve people who are unvaccinated, 59 involve people who are partially vaccinated and 276 involve people who have an unknown vaccination status.

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 61.4 per cent less likely to contract COVID-19 compared to those who are unvaccinated.

The province deemed 2,730 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Tuesday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 1,038,944.

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 1,076,078.

The province reported 63 resident cases and 40 staff cases in long-term care settings across Ontario. Officials stated that at least 168 long-term care homes are currently dealing with an outbreak.