The province reports 3,957 people in hospital due to COVID-19 on Saturday, as Ontario continues to see record hospitalizations amid the highly contagious Omicron variant.
The latest number of hospitalizations is an increase of 143 from Friday’s data.
This is also an increase of more than 1,300 hospitalizations compared to last Saturday’s hospitalizations of 2,594.
Of the 3,957 people hospitalized, about 53 percent of them were admitted because of the virus, while about 47 percent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.
There are now 558 patients in intensive care units due to the virus (31 more than the day before) and 319 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator.
Last Saturday, 385 people were reported in intensive care units. Last week, Ontario saw an increase of 173 ICU patients.
Of the 558 people currently in the ICU, about 78 percent of those in intensive care were admitted for COVID, while about 22 percent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.
For those in general hospital wards with COVID, 739 were unvaccinated, 195 were partially vaccinated, and 2,050 were fully vaccinated.
For those in the ICU, 195 were unvaccinated, while 17 were partially vaccinated and 196 were fully vaccinated.
According to the latest data, 43 more deaths were recorded on Saturday, bringing the provincial death toll to 10,565. Of that, 42 deaths were from last month and one death was from more than a month ago that has since been added as part of a data cleanup.
In terms of COVID cases, Ontario reported 10,732 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. This brings the total case count in the province to 937,636.
However, due to provincial testing restrictions, total case counts are underestimated.
The Ministry of Health confirmed that those who test positive in a rapid antigen test will no longer need to confirm a positive COVID-19 result through a PCR test. However, positive cases are not collected through the rapid antigen test.
Meanwhile, the province also reported that 22,870 cases were considered resolved on Saturday. A total of 827,756 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from the virus.
According to the latest data, about 89 percent of the eligible population ages 12 and older is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. At least 91 percent have received at least one dose.
For young children ages five to 11, coverage for the first dose is 49 percent: 529,088 doses from just over a million eligible children.
More than 157,357 doses were administered in the last 24 hours. More than 29 million doses have been administered since vaccine rollout began in late 2020.
More to come.
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Reference-globalnews.ca