Ontario logs 47 more COVID-19 deaths as hospitalizations continue to drop

TREND LINE: Nanos on health-care crisis Trend Line's Michael Stittle and Nik Nanos look at the health-care crisis and who the public holds responsible for the strain on the system.

Another 47 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported in Ontario as hospitalizations drop below 1,500.

The number of hospitalized and intensive care patients has dropped steadily over the past few weeks. On Wednesday, health officials said there were now 1,403 people being treated in Ontario hospitals with COVID-19, including 364 people in ICU.

Of those hospitalized, at least 54 per cent are being treated for COVID-19-related reasons.

That number increases to about 83 per cent for patients in intensive care.

The remaining patients tested positive for the virus after being admitted for unrelated reasons.

Ontario is also reporting 47 additional deaths related to COVID-19. Forty-six of those deaths occurred over the past 30 days while the final death occurred more than a month ago.

An additional 2,532 COVID-19 infections were logged Wednesday; however due to the lack of access to PCR tests in the province that number is a significant underestimation.

In the Greater Toronto Area, 250 of those infections were identified in Toronto while 185 were found in Peel Region and 144 were found in York Region.

Other municipalities with more than 100 COVID-19 cases include Simcoe-Muskoka (196), Ottawa (184) and Durham (103).

With just over 19,800 COVID-19 PCR tests processed in the last 24 hours, the province says the positivity rate is now about 10.2 per cent.

Most COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario will be lifted at the end of this month.

On Thursday, capacity limits will be lifted at most indoor public settings where proof of vaccination is required and indoor social gathering limits will increase to 50 people.

Yesterday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the public is “done” with COVID-19 restrictions and that he is strongly discouraging the idea of any new public health measures.

“We are done with it,” Ford said of limits to public activity. “Let’s just start moving on, cautiously. The world’s done with it, let’s just move forward.”

“We just have to be careful, make sure we wash our hands and move forward.”

However, a senior advisor with the World Health Organization told CTV News Toronto the pandemic “ain’t over.”

While it’s possible to end the acute phase of the pandemic this year, the WHO said this is only achievable if every country vaccinates 70 per cent of its population, people continue to adhere to public health measures and further treatments are developed.