Ontario reports total of 834 people in hospital with COVID-19, lowest count in months

Ontario health officials are reporting 834 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Thursday, marking the lowest count since December last year.

The last time the province reported fewer than 834 people in hospital with COVID-19 was on Dec. 29 when 726 people were receiving care.

The province also reported on Thursday that 267 of the 834 patients are receiving care at intensive care units across Ontario. The number of people in hospital and ICU with COVID-19 has been steadily decreasing for weeks now.

The province says 19 more people have died due to COVID-19. Officials noted that 17 of the deaths occurred over the past 30 days, while the remaining two occurred more than a month ago.

Officials said there have been a total of 12,497 COVID-19-related deaths in the province since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

The province reported that 45 per cent of the 834 people in hospital are primarily there due to COVID-19, while the remaining 55 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have now tested positive for the virus.

Officials said about 80 per cent of patients are in ICU primarily due to COVID-19, while 20 per cent of cases are there primarily for other reasons, but also have the virus.

The province said that 78 of the people in ICU are fully vaccinated, 62 are unvaccinated and four are partially vaccinated. The remaining 123 have an unknown vaccination status.

According to data released by the Ontario Science Table on Wednesday, which takes into account population sizes, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 85.1 per cent less likely to end up in hospital and 90.7 per cent less likely to end up in ICU compared to people who are unvaccinated.

The province reported 2,262 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, but health officials have warned that number is an underestimate due to testing limitations and backlogs.

With 16,606 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province's positivity rate is about 10.2 per cent.

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 324 new cases in Toronto, 134 new cases in Durham Region, 120 new cases in Peel Region and 92 new each cases in York Region and Halton Region.

Officials also reported 184 Simcoe-Muskoka and 136 new cases in Ottawa. All other regions reported fewer than 100 new cases on Thursday.

The province said that of the 2,262 new cases reported today, 1,762 involve people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses, 259 involve people who are unvaccinated, 66 involve people who are partially vaccinated and 175 involve people who have an unknown vaccination status.

Acknowledging population size, the science table noted in their latest data report on Wednesday, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 44.2 per cent less likely to contract COVID-19 compared to those who are unvaccinated.

The province deemed 2,293 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Thursday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 1,077,985.

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 1,107,408.

The province reported 56 resident cases and eight staff cases in long-term care settings across Ontario. Two of the 19 deaths reported on Thursday involved a resident of long-term care. Officials said that at least 69 long-term care homes are currently dealing with an outbreak.