Ontario COVID numbers: 1,116 people in hospital, 160 in intensive care

There are 1,116 people in hospital in Ontario with COVID-19 on Saturday, according to data released by the province.

The same data shows 160 people in an Ontario intensive care unit (ICU) either with or due to the virus.

The data includes 13 new deaths as a result of COVID-19.

The figures mark a drop in the number of people in intensive care and in hospital overall. There are 49 fewer people in hospital on Saturday compared to Friday, while there are also three fewer reported ICU cases.

On Friday, Ontario reported 1,165 people in hospital with COVID and 163 in intensive care.

The data shows a drop in hospitalizations compared to last week, although ICU cases rose slightly.

Last week — Saturday, May 14 — Ontario reported 1,392 people in hospital with COVID-19 and 156 people in ICU with or due to the virus.

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Experts have said the presence of a new sublineage of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 doesn’t warrant significant concern.

In a recent brief, Public Health Ontario said BA.2.20 — an evolved form of the Omicron BA.2 subvariant — has been primarily growing in Ontario.

Dr. Zain Chagla, an associate professor of infectious disease with McMaster University in Hamilton, said there is “no need for panic” since BA.2.20 has not caused “leaps and bounds” of COVID-19 cases overnight.

Ontario also reported 1,221 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.

Test positivity reported Saturday declined. A total of 8.9 per cent of test results reported out Saturday by Public Health Ontario were positive, compared to 9.1 per cent Friday.

Vaccination rates remained largely stable. A total of 91.3 per cent of Ontario residents aged 12 or older have had two COVID-19 vaccine doses, while 60.2 per cent of people aged 18 or older have been boosted.

A grand total of 33,224,923 shots have been administered since the pandemic began.

— with files from The Canadian Press