Ontario reports 3,439 people in hospital with COVID-19, 597 in intensive care

The province is reporting 3,439 people in hospital with COVID-19 Saturday, with 597 people currently in intensive care.

The latest number of hospitalizations is a decrease of 96 from Friday’s data.

This is also a drop of over 500  hospitalizations in comparison to last Saturday’s hospitalizations which stood at 4,026.

Of the 3,439  people hospitalized, around 55 per cent of them were admitted because of the virus, while about 45 per cent were admitted for other reasons but then tested positive for COVID-19.

Of the 597 people currently in ICU, around 82 per cent of those in intensive care were admitted because of COVID, while around 18 per cent were admitted for other reasons but test positive for COVID-19.

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Last Saturday, 600 people were reported in intensive care units.

For those in general hospital wards with COVID, 667 were unvaccinated, 153 were partially vaccinated and 1,755 were fully vaccinated.

For those in ICUs, 199 were unvaccinated while 18 were partially vaccinated and 231 were fully vaccinated.

The province recorded 58 more deaths on Saturday, bringing the provincial death toll to 11,354

However, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said 58 of the deaths occurred in the past 13 days.

“Of these, nine deaths occurred on the 27th, 17 deaths occurred on January 26th, 10 deaths occurred on January 25th, with the remaining occurring in the preceding days,” the spokesperson said through a statement.

“While this will not change the fact that these individuals tragically lost their lives, it is important to be transparent and provide the public with as much context as we can,” the spokesperson added.

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In terms of COVID cases, Ontario is reporting 4,855 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. This brings the total case count in the province to 1,026,291.

However, because of the province’s testing restrictions, total case counts are an underestimation.

The Ministry of Health confirmed that those who test positive on a rapid antigen test will no longer need to confirm they have COVID-19 through a PCR test. However, rapid antigen test positive cases are not collected.

Of the 4,855 reported cases, 765 were among those who are unvaccinated, 207 were among those who are partially vaccinated and 403 have an unknown vaccination status. The remaining 3,480 cases were reported among people who are fully vaccinated.

Test positivity hit 13.9 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 15.9 per cent.

The government said 29,241 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 10,970 tests currently under investigation.

Meanwhile, the province also reported 6,685 cases were deemed resolved Saturday. A total of 965,386 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from the virus.

There are more than 11.6 million people fully immunized with two doses. There are more than 6.3 million Ontarians who have received a booster shot.

According to the latest data, 89 per cent of the eligible population aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. At least 91  per cent have received at least one dose.

For young children aged five to 11, first dose coverage stands at 53 per cent. About 15 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Over 87,000 doses were administered in the last 24 hours. More than 30 million doses have been administered since the rollout of vaccines began in late 2020.