Ontario COVID News: Lowest Intensive Care Unit since November.

On Saturday, provincial health officials reported the lowest number of patients with COVID-19 in intensive care for six months.

The Ontario Department of Health says there are 865 patients with the virus in hospitals across the province, up from 1,116 a week ago.

Of the sick, 144 are in the intensive care unit, which is a decrease of 16 from a week ago and the lowest employment rate since November 28, 2021, when 135 people were in the intensive care unit.

Officials say 39% of hospitalized patients were admitted for COVID-19-related reasons, and 60% were admitted for other reasons and subsequently tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, 65% of patients in the intensive care unit were admitted for the virus, and 34% were admitted for other reasons, but tested positive for COVID-19.

On Saturday, the ministry also confirmed 13 net new deaths, 12 in the last month and one more than a month ago.

Three of the latest deaths have been in long-term care homes.

As of March 2020, there are 13,223 virus-related deaths in the province.

Ontario labs have processed 11,297 tests in the past 24 hours, giving a positive test rate of 8.5% compared to 8.9% seven days ago, according to the ministry.

Health officials confirmed another 1,144 infections today, but health officials say the daily number of cases continues to be underestimated due to limited access to PCR testing.

Among recent cases, 657 of the individuals received three doses of COVID-19 vaccine, 192 received two doses, 103 were partially or unvaccinated, and 192 had unknown vaccination status.

Yesterday, 20,145 doses of vaccine were administered across the province.

To date, 90% of Ontario residents aged five and over have received a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 87% have received two doses, and 52% have received three doses.

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.