Ontario reports total of 847 people in hospital with COVID-19, 27 more deaths

Ontario health officials are reporting a total of 847 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Wednesday, including 273 people in intensive care.

The province has reported fewer than 1,000 patients in hospital with COVID-19 for the past four days.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 dipped down to 842 on Sunday and 849 on Monday, however, health officials warned at the time that not all hospitals reported their data on the weekend.

On Tuesday, with the complete weekend data now available, the province reported that 914 people were in hospital with COVID-19.

The province also reported that 27 more people have died due to COVID-19. A Ministry of Health spokesperson said one death occurred on Feb. 28, two deaths occurred on Feb. 27 and the remaining 24 deaths occurred before that.

Officials said there have been a total 12,478 COVID-19-related deaths in the province since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

The province reported that 44 per cent of the 914 people in hospital are primarily there due to COVID-19, while the remaining 56 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have now tested positive for the virus.

Officials said about 82 per cent of patients are in ICU primarily due to COVID-19, while 18 per cent of cases are there primarily for other reasons, but also have the virus.

The province said that 77 of the people in ICU are fully vaccinated, 65 are unvaccinated and six are partially vaccinated. The remaining 125 have an unknown vaccination status.

According to data released by the Ontario Science Table on Tuesday, which takes into account population sizes, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 84.1 per cent less likely to end up in hospital and 91.5 per cent less likely to end up in ICU compared to people who are unvaccinated.

The province reported 1,959 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, but health officials have warned that number is an underestimate due to testing limitations and backlogs.

With 18,094 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 274 new cases in Toronto, 113 new cases in Peel Region, 113 new cases in Durham Region, 107 new cases in York Region and 54 new cases in Halton Region.

Officials also reported 160 Simcoe-Muskoka, 132 new cases in Ottawa, 88 new cases in Kingston area, 82 new cases each in Thunder Bay and Niagara Region and 75 new cases in Hamilton. All other regions reported fewer than 70 new cases on Wednesday.

The province said that of the 1,959 new cases reported today, 1,522 involve people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses, 215 involve people who are unvaccinated, 49 involve people who are partially vaccinated and 173 involve people who have an unknown vaccination status.

Acknowledging population size, the science table noted in their latest data report on Tuesday, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 39.4 per cent less likely to contract COVID-19 compared to those who are unvaccinated.

The province deemed 2,411 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Wednesday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 1,075,692.

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 1,105,146.

The province reported 51 resident cases and 37 staff cases in long-term care settings across Ontario. Six of the 27 deaths reported on Wednesday involved a resident of long-term care. Officials said that at least 71 long-term care homes are currently dealing with an outbreak.