Ontario has reported 43 more COVID-19-related deaths, bringing the total number of hospitalizations due to the Omicron variety to a new high.
According to the Ministry of Health, there are 3,957 individuals with the virus in hospitals across the province, breaking the previous high of 3,814 set yesterday and up from 2,594 hospitalizations a week ago.
According to Health Minister Christine Elliott, 53% of those admitted to hospitals were diagnosed with the coronavirus, while 47% were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for the virus.
There are 558 patients in intensive care, up from 385 a week ago, and 319 of the ICU patients are breathing with the help of a ventilator.
Elliott says 78 per cent of ICU patients were admitted for COVID-19, while 22 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for the virus.
The province says 42 of the new deaths reported today occurred in the past month and one occurred more than a month ago. The virus-related death toll stands at 10,565.
There are currently 417 active COVID-19 outbreaks at long-term care homes across the province, up from 342 a week ago.
Provincial labs processed more than 56,300 tests in the past 24 hours, producing a positivity rate of 24.8 per cent, according to the ministry.
The positivity rate appears to be declining slowly over the past week as it was 30.6 per cent seven days ago.
Ontario logged 10,732 new COVID-19 cases today, but officials say that is an underestimate due to limited testing capacity.
Among the latest cases, 8,223 of the individuals are fully vaccinated, 1,539 are unvaccinated, 417 are partially vaccinated and 553 have an unknown vaccination status.
Meanwhile, another 22,870 people recovered from the virus yesterday.
To date, at least 88 per cent of eligible Ontarians five years and older have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 82 per cent have received two doses and 38 per cent have received three doses.
Since the pandemic began two years ago, there have been 937,636 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases and 827,756 recoveries.
Source_ globalnews.ca
