The number of people receiving care for COVID-19 in Ontario dropped Saturday, according to data released by the province.
New figures show 1,130 people are in hospital with COVID-19. A total of 185 are in intensive care units (ICU) in Ontario.
The province released two data sets Saturday because it did not report figures over the Good Friday holiday. Friday saw 1,427 people in hospital and 182 in ICU, an increase from 1,392 in hospital and 177 people in ICU on Thursday.
According to Ornge, the province’s emergency transfer service, few patient transfers have been required to create ICU capacity in the GTA during the sixth wave so far.
No patient transfers were required from Mackenzie Health, Scarborough Health Network, Trillium Health Partners, Unity Health Toronto, Sinai Health System, Toronto East Health Network or Lakeridge Health during March or April, Ornge told Global News.
Five patients were transferred from Mackenzie Health hospitals in February to create ICU space.
The province reported 4,201 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday. That figure, experts say, is likely an underestimate of the true number of cases due to testing restrictions that limit access to PCR tests in the province.
Friday saw 4,332 new lab-confirmed cases.
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The province’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table recently said Ontario was “well into” the sixth wave of the pandemic, which is being driven by the “new, more transmissible BA.2 variant, waning immunity and lifting of public health measures.”
In its latest update, it said community transmission of the virus “may have peaked.”
The test positivity for results published on Saturday was 18.5 per cent, a small decrease from the 18.8 per cent reported for Friday.
The provincial case total since the pandemic began now stands at 1,217,574.
Ontario recorded 10 new deaths Saturday and 13 new Friday deaths, three of which were noted as a result of data cleaning. The total number of deaths since the pandemic began sits at 12,629.
According to the data, 91 per cent of those aged 12 and over are vaccinated against COVID-19 with two doses. The provincial data shows seven per cent remain unvaccinated.
In total, 32,271,402 vaccine doses have been administered in Ontario.
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