Ontario COVID update: 1,091 people in hospital, 173 in intensive care

Ontario is reporting 1,091 people in hospital with COVID-19. There are 173 people in intensive care with or due to the virus.

That marks an increase of 234 hospitalizations and five people in intensive care since Monday’s report.

However, not all hospitals report updated figures on weekends, meaning the reported numbers on Monday were likely an undercount.

Tuesday’s report marks the highest number of people in hospital with COVID-19 in Ontario since February, though the number of people in ICUs at that time with the virus was much higher.

Last Tuesday, there were 790 people reported to be in hospital with COVID-19, with 165 in intensive care.

According to the latest provincial data, around 54.1 per cent of people in hospital with COVID were admitted for another reason but tested positive for the virus, while about 45.9 per cent were admitted because of COVID.

Of those in intensive care, around 33.3 per cent were admitted for other reasons, while about 66.7 per cent were admitted because of the virus.

Nine new COVID-19-related deaths were also reported Tuesday; six occurred within the past month and three occurred more than a month ago and were added as part of a data cleaning process.

The provincial death toll stands at 12,479.

The province is also reporting 1,991 new COVID-19 cases, but that is an underestimation due to testing restrictions. There have now been 1,176,677 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ontario.

There were 14,474 tests completed in the previous day; 8,643 tests remain under investigation.

The positivity rate stands at 18 per cent, down from 19 per cent on Monday and up from 14.4 per cent last Tuesday.