Ontario reports 660 new COVID-19 cases, 1 additional death

Ontario reported 660 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and one additional death. The majority of the new cases (525) are in people who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status, while 135 are fully vaccinated.

The province conducted 26,406 tests in the last 24-hour period with a positivity rate of 2.4 per cent.

In a tweet, Minister of Health Christine Elliott said 283 people are hospitalized (excluding ICU) with COVID-19. Of those patients, 253 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status, while 30 are fully vaccinated.

A total of 161 people are in ICU fighting the virus, with 92 on ventilators.

On its website the Ministry of Health notes that “cases by vaccination status may not match the daily COVID-19 case count because records with a missing or invalid health card number cannot be linked.”

The province says slightly more than 82 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received one dose of a vaccine, and just over 75 per cent have had two shots.

But Ontario’s hospital association says broader vaccination is needed to minimize the impact of the pandemic’s fourth wave as hospitalizations and intensive care admissions due to the virus rise.

On Tuesday, Ontario’s top doctor, Dr. Kieran Moore, said the province currently has the capacity to care for those in intensive care, but will closely monitor what he considers a “key marker” of the pandemic situation.

In a statement issued today, the head of the Ontario Hospital Association says increasing the vaccination rate will help reduce the burden on hospitals and minimize any further disruption to non-COVID services.

Anthony Dale notes more than 90 per cent of COVID-19 patients in intensive care and more than 80 per cent of those hospitalized but not in an ICU are not fully vaccinated with two doses.

He notes uptake of vaccinations has also “slowed significantly” recently even as case counts increase.