Ontario reports total of 914 people in hospital with COVID-19, 18 more deaths

Ont. takes major step easing COVID-19 restrictions Ontario enters a new chapter in its two-year fight against COVID-19 as the province relaxes many of its strongest restrictions.

Ontario health officials are reporting a total of 914 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Tuesday, including 278 people in intensive care.

The province has reported fewer than 1,000 patients in hospital with COVID-19 for the past three 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 weekend data now available, the official number has remained under 1,000.

The province also reported that 18 more people have died due to COVID-19. A Ministry of Health spokesperson said one of the deaths occurred on Feb. 28, five deaths occurred on Feb. 27, two deaths occurred on Feb. 26 and the remaining 10 deaths occurred before that.

Officials said there have been a total 12,451 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 914 people in hospital are primarily there due to COVID-19, while the remaining 55 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have 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 88 of the people in ICU are fully vaccinated, 63 are unvaccinated and five are partially vaccinated. The remaining 122 have an unknown vaccination status.

According to data released by the Ontario Science Table on Monday, 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 1,176 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, but health officials have warned that number is an underestimate due to testing limitations and backlogs.

With 13,087 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province's positivity rate is about 10.3 per cent.

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 223 new cases in Toronto, 80 new cases in York Region, 70 new cases in Peel Region, 52 new cases in Durham Region and 42 new cases in Halton Region.

Officials also reported 81 new cases in the Kingston area, 62 new cases in Simcoe-Muskoka and 56 new cases in Ottawa. All other regions reported fewer than 50 new cases on Tuesday.

The province said that of the 1,176 new cases reported today, 858 involve people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses, 165 involve people who are unvaccinated, 27 involve people who are partially vaccinated and 126 involve people who have an unknown vaccination status.

Acknowledging population size, the science table noted in their latest data report on Monday, 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 1,881 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Tuesday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 1,073,281.

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 1,103,187.

The province reported 18 resident cases and 35 staff cases in long-term care settings across Ontario. One of the 18 deaths reported on Tuesday involved a resident of long-term care. Officials said that at least 77 long-term care homes are currently dealing with an outbreak.