Ontario reported eight more COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday as hospitalizations and intensive care employment fell.
The health ministry has reported eight new deaths in the past month.
As of March 2020, there are 13,351 virus-related deaths in the province.
There are currently 506 patients with the virus in Ontario hospitals, down from 512 yesterday and 522 a week ago.
Of these hospitalized patients, 43% were admitted with the virus and 57% were admitted for other reasons and subsequently tested positive for the virus.
Meanwhile, 115 of these hospitalized patients are in intensive care, declining by one from yesterday and one from a week ago.
The ministry says 53% of patients in the intensive care unit were admitted with COVID, and 47% were admitted for other reasons and tested positive for the virus.
Authorities say 49 patients in the intensive care unit breathe with the help of a ventilator.
Laboratories in Ontario processed 10,385 tests in the last 24 hours, which gives a percentage of positive results of 6.9% compared to 6.4% a week ago.
The province confirmed another 786 infections today, but health officials say the daily number of cases is underestimated due to limited access to PCR testing.
Among recent cases, 532 individuals received three or more doses of COVID-19 vaccine, 104 received two doses, 81 were partially or unvaccinated, and 69 had unknown vaccination status.
Yesterday, the province administered more than 13,900 doses of vaccine across the province.
To date, 90 percent of Ontario residents aged five and over have received a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 87 percent have received two doses, and 52 percent have received three doses.
On Tuesday, the federal government announced it would suspend vaccination mandates for domestic and outbound international travel and federally regulated workers from June 20th.
The requirements for foreign nationals coming to Canada will not change.
Infectious Diseases Specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch says the abolition of mandates should not lead to a significant increase in COVID infections.
“Honestly, I don’t think there will be many consequences of this, in terms of transmitting the infection, on public transport. I don’t do that and it’s in the Omicron era. All these policies must be up-to-date and in step with science, “he told CP24 on Wednesday morning.
From Thursday, Ontario will move from daily COVID reporting to weekly data due to improved pandemic conditions.
Bogoch says he personally would like to see the daily reports remain in place.
“I think the numbers can help stimulate smart behavior change, and I think more detailed information and transparency are obviously key. But you know, you obviously don’t want to arm the information, and sometimes we’ve seen that happen too. My bias would be to keep these daily updates. They were imperfect, but still useful, “he told CP24 on Wednesday morning.
The numbers used in this story are in the Ontario Department of Health’s daily epidemiological summary COVID-19. The number of cases for each city or region may differ slightly from that reported by the province, as local units report figures at different times.
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