Ontario reports total of 611 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 174 in ICU

Ontario health officials report there are currently 611 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 174 patients in intensive care.

The province released the latest numbers on Wednesday. They mark a decrease over the 639 hospitalizations and 179 ICU admissions from the day before.

Officials also reported 14 more deaths due to COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic, 12,356 have lost their lives due to the disease. The province removed one death from the total count that was reported over a month ago based on a data cleaning.

The province reported 2,149 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, but health officials have warned that number is an underestimate due to testing limitations and backlogs.

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 467 new cases in Toronto, 166 new cases in Peel Region, 129 new cases in Durham Region, 110 new cases in Halton Region and 101 new cases in York Region.

Officials also reported 111 new cases in Hamilton and 110 new cases in Simcoe Muskoka. All other regions reported fewer than 100 new cases on Wednesday.

The province deemed 2,149 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Wednesday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 1,114,388.

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 1,143,014.

The province reported 34 resident cases and nine staff cases in long-term care settings across Ontario. One of the 14 deaths reported on Wednesday included one resident of a long-term care home. Officials said that at least 65 long-term care homes are currently dealing with an outbreak.

-- With files from The Canadian Press