COVID-19 ICU admissions in Ontario reach lowest level since early January, another 42 deaths reported

Dr. Bogoch on rising subvariant cases Infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch discusses the rise of Omicron subvariants and if there will be another COVID-19 wave soon.

The number of patients in an Ontario intensive care unit with COVID-19 reached its lowest level since early January on Tuesday.

Government data shows that there are currently 474 patients in the ICU -- a drop over Monday’s total of 486. This marks the lowest number of patients in the ICU with COVID-19 since Jan. 10 when admissions totalled 438.

Of those patients in the ICU, 82 per cent are being treated for COVID-19 and 18 per cent tested positive after they were admitted. At least 174 of those patients are fully vaccinated, 158 are unvaccinated, and 10 are partially vaccinated. No vaccination information was provided for the remaining 132 patients.

Meanwhile, hospitalizations related to the virus reached 2,254 on Tuesday, an increase of 99 patients. However, not all hospitals record patient data over the weekend and the jump is likely due to the reporting delay.

Of those in hospital, 56 per cent of patients were admitted due to COVID-19 while the remaining 44 per cent tested positive after the fact. At least 1,264 patients are fully vaccinated, 484 are unvaccinated, and 100 are partially vaccinated. No vaccination information was provided for the remaining 406 patients.

Forty-two more deaths related to COVID-19 were also reported on Tuesday, brining the province’s death toll to 11,878. All of the deaths reported today occurred over the past 26 days, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said.

An additional 2,092 cases of COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours, though that number is an underestimate due to limited access to testing in the province.

Labs processed 15,788 tests in the same time period, resulting in a test positivity rate of 14.2 per cent, according to the Ministry of Health.

Ontario has logged 1,058,241 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES?

Most of the cases reported by the province on Tuesday were found in Toronto (328), Peel Region (198), and Ottawa (152).

Other areas with relatively high case counts include York Region (130), Niagara Region (116), Kingston (109), and Windsor-Essex (101).

UPDATE ON VACCINATIONS

Health Minister Christine Elliott said that 92.1 per cent of Ontarians over the age of 12 have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 89.5 per cent have two doses and are considered to be fully vaccinated.

More than 31,000,000 needles have gone into arms across Ontario throughout the province’s vaccination campaign, including 39,608 jabs that were administered on Monday.