Ontario health officials are reporting 1,698 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Wednesday, with 199 patients in intensive care.
Thirty-one people have died due to this virus on Wednesday as well. Of those deaths, 29 occurred last month, while two occurred a month ago.
Of the 239 patients admitted to hospital on Wednesday, 239 have not been vaccinated and 1,050 have been fully vaccinated. The vaccination status of the remaining patients is unknown.
On Wednesday, 43 per cent of the hospitalized patients were admitted for COVID-19, while the remaining 57 per cent tested positive after unrelated admissions. In ICU, those percentages are 65 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
Of the patients currently being treated for COVID-19 in an Ontario ICU, 30 have not been vaccinated and 81 are fully vaccinated. The vaccination status of the remaining patients is unknown.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 12,889 people have lost their lives due to this disease.
With 18,320 tests in the last 24 hours, the health ministry says the province’s positivity rate is around 14.3 percent.
The province reported 2,488 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, but health officials have warned that the numbers have been a significant underestimate due to testing limits.
The scientific director of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table said Tuesday Ontario is on the right track and cases should decline in the coming weeks if people maintain current behavior patterns.
“It is probably true that we have passed the peak,” Dr. Peter Juni told CP24 in an interview.
“The peak was around the holiday weekend, and now we see that there is probably a real drop.”
He cautioned that it is important not to “get ahead of yourself” and added that a few more days of data are definitely needed.
“So whatever you’re doing in terms of your behavior — with contacts, masking, etc. — keep doing that for a few more weeks. But I think we’re on the right track now.”
Today’s report brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases in Ontario to 1,265,690.
