Ontario reports total of 2,634 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 517 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 Friday.

The province said 2,634 people are currently in hospital with COVID-19. On Thursday, officials said that 2,797 people were in hospital with the disease.

Health officials also said there are currently 517 people with COVID-19 in ICUs across the province. On Thursday, that number was 541.

The number of people in hospital and ICU with COVID-19 has been dropping steadily for several days now.

The province also reported that 60 more people have died due to COVID-19.

A spokesperson for Ontario Ministry of Health stated 58 of the deaths reported on Friday happened over the past 22 days, while the remaining two deaths took place over a month ago.

The province said eight of the deaths occurred on Feb. 3, 19 of the deaths occurred on Feb. 2, eight more of the deaths occurred on Feb. 1, and the remaining 23 deaths occurred previous to that.

Officials said there have been a total 11,711 COVID-19-related deaths in the province since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

The province reported that 56 per cent of the 2,634 people in hospital are primarily there due to COVID-19, while the remaining 44 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have now tested positive for the virus.

Eighty-three per cent of patients are in ICU primarily due to COVID-19, while 17 per cent of cases are there primarily for other reasons, but also have the virus.

The province said that 179 of the people in ICU are fully vaccinated, 161 are unvaccinated and 19 are partially vaccinated. The remaining 158 have an unknown vaccination status.

According to data released by the Ontario Science Table on Thursday, which takes into account population sizes, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 82.7 per cent less likely to end up in hospital and 91.3 per cent less likely to end up in ICU compared to people who are unvaccinated.

The province reported 4,047 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, but health officials have warned that number is an underestimate due to testing limitations and backlogs.

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 676 new cases in Toronto, 389 new cases in Peel Region, 179 new cases in York Region, 173 new cases in Durham Region and 113 new cases in Halton Region.

Officials reported 339 new cases in Ottawa, 229 new cases in Simcoe-Muskoka, 190 new cases in Hamilton, 167 new cases in Niagara Region, 164 new cases in Middlesex-London, 146 new cases in Windsor-Essex and 107 new cases in Waterloo region.

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

With 25,118 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province's positivity rate is about 12 per cent.

The province said that of the 4,047 new cases reported today, 2,827 involve people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses, 685 involve people who are unvaccinated, 170 involve people who are partially vaccinated and 365 involve people who have an unknown vaccination status.

Acknowledging population size, the science table noted on Thursday, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 60 per cent less likely to contract COVID-19 compared to those who are unvaccinated.

The province deemed 5,622 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Friday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 998,238.

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 1,047,970.

The province reported 253 resident cases and 102 staff cases in long-term care settings across Ontario. It also noted that 18 of the 60 deaths reported on Friday were long-term care residents.

Officials stated that at least 311 long-term care homes are currently dealing with an outbreak.