Ontario COVID numbers: 847 people in hospital, 273 in intensive care

Ontario is reporting 847 people in hospital with COVID on Wednesday, with 273 in intensive care units as figures continue to trend downwards.

This is down by 67 hospitalizations and a decrease of five in ICUs since the previous day. Last Wednesday, there were 1,106 hospitalizations with 319 in ICU.

The province recently began distinguishing between those who were admitted to hospital directly because of COVID, and those who were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for the virus.

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Of the 847 people in hospital with COVID-19, 44 per cent of them were admitted because of the virus, while 56 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.

Of the 273 people in ICUs with the virus, 82 per cent were admitted because of COVID, while 18 per cent were admitted for other reasons.

Ontario COVID cases, deaths, vaccinations, recoveries, testing

Meanwhile, Ontario also reported 1,959 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, though that is an underestimate of the true widespread transmission of the virus due to testing restrictions. The provincial case total now stands at 1,105,146.

Of the 1,959 new cases recorded, the data showed 215 were unvaccinated people, 49 were partially vaccinated people, 1,522 were fully vaccinated people. For 173 people the vaccination status was unknown.

The death toll in the province has risen to 12,478 as 27 more virus-related deaths were added. A ministry of health spokesperson said 24 of deaths occurred over the past 30 days. The other three deaths occurred more than a month ago.

“Of these, no deaths occurred on March 1, one death occurred on Feb. 28 and two deaths occurred on Feb. 27, with the remaining occurring in the preceding days,” the spokesperson said.

There are a total of 1,075,692 recoveries, which is around 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 2,411 from the previous day.

For vaccinations, of the aged 12 and older population, 90.6 per cent are fully vaccinated. First dose coverage stands at 92.6 per cent. Third dose immunization is at 54.1 per cent — more than 7 million Ontarians have received a booster shot.

For young children aged five to 11, first dose coverage stands at 54.7 per cent with 28.3 per cent who are fully vaccinated.

The province administered 19,014 doses in the last day.

The government said 18,094 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 6,312 tests currently under investigation.

The test positivity rate stands at 11.8 per cent.