Ontario reports total of 649 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 204 in ICU

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.

Ontario health officials report there are currently 649 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 204 patients in intensive care.

The province released the latest numbers on Wednesday. They mark a decrease over the 688 hospitalizations and 220 ICU total from the day before.

The total number of people in intensive care units with the disease on Wednesday is the lowest number seen since the end of 2021.

The province said that 66 of the people in ICU are fully vaccinated, 40 are unvaccinated and five are partially vaccinated. The remaining 93 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 81.6 per cent less likely to end up in hospital and 88.4 per cent less likely to end up in ICU compared to people who are unvaccinated.

The province reported that 47 per cent of the 649 people in hospital are primarily there due to COVID-19, while the remaining 53 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have now tested positive for the virus.

Officials said about 79 per cent of patients are in ICU primarily due to COVID-19, while 21 per cent of cases are there primarily for other reasons, but also have the virus.

Officials also reported 16 more deaths due to COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic, 12,288 have lost their lives due to the disease.

The province reported 2,011 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, but health officials have warned that number is an underestimate due to testing limitations and backlogs.

With 15,702 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province's positivity rate is about 12 per cent.

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 327 new cases in Toronto, 183 new cases in Peel Region, 102 new cases in York Region, 101 new cases in Durham Region and 46 new cases in Halton Region.

Officials also reported 123 new cases in Ottawa, 103 new cases in Simcoe Muskoka and 109 new cases in Kingston area. All other regions reported fewer than 100 new cases on Wednesday.

The province deemed 2,060 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Wednesday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 1,101,842.

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 1,129,543.

The province reported 29 resident cases and 25 staff cases in long-term care settings across Ontario. One of the 16 deaths reported on Wednesday included one resident of a long-term care home. Officials said that at least 45 long-term care homes are currently dealing with an outbreak.