Hospitalizations in Ontario
Ontario reported 2,472 people in hospital wards with COVID-19 (up by 193 from the previous day) with 338 patients in intensive care units (up by 19).
This is the highest number of patients in hospital ever recorded, edging out the previous high of 2,360 reported on April 20 amid the third wave — ICU peaked 10 days later at 900 patients.
Last Friday, there were 1,144 hospitalizations with 205 in ICUs.
Although Omicron is considered less severe than Delta, the unprecedented surge in cases has driven hospitalizations and ICU admissions to soar as Ontario grapples to contain Omicron. Staffing shortages due to the new variant have impacted hospitals as the need for beds increases. Non-urgent surgeries have been ordered to pause.
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In terms of vaccination status, for those in general hospital wards with COVID, 441 were unvaccinated, 100 were partially vaccinated and 1,327 were fully vaccinated. For patients in ICUs, 119 were unvaccinated while 17 were partially vaccinated and 106 were fully vaccinated. This dataset will grow and improve over time, officials noted.
In population comparison, as the majority of Ontarians are vaccinated, those who are unvaccinated are still far more likely to land in hospital or ICU than the vaccinated, according to Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.
Deaths, vaccinations, recoveries, active cases, 7-day average, testing, test positivity
The death toll in the province has risen to 10,272 as 43 more virus-related deaths were added. Officials noted 42 of the deaths occurred in the span of 10 days.
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As of 8 p.m. on Thursday, there are more than 11.4 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 88.3 per cent of the aged 12 and older population. First dose coverage stands at 91 per cent. Third dose immunization is at 34.1 per cent.
For young children aged five to 11, first dose coverage stands at 45.2 per cent with 2.6 per cent who are now fully vaccinated.
The province administered 194,093 doses in the last day. There are more than 4.4 million Ontarians who have received a booster shot.
Meanwhile, 707,732 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is around 82 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 11,946 from the previous day.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 135,223 — up from last week when it was at 98,822. At the peak of the second wave in January, active cases hit just above 30,000. In the third wave peak in April, active cases topped 43,000.
The seven-day average has now reached 13,844 as daily case counts due to Omicron continue to hover around unprecedented highs. This is up from 11,348 a week ago.
The government said 61,137 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 100,224 tests currently under investigation.
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Test positivity hit 26.6 per cent meaning more than 1 in 4 tests are coming back positive for COVID. Last week, test positivity was at 29.8 per cent.
However, Ontario officials have recently changed testing eligibility for those seeking to get a PCR test to detect COVID-19 to only the most high-risk populations such as health care, long-term care, those who live and work in congregate settings, etc.
More to come.
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
