The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 continues to rise as the province reported nine net new deaths on Saturday.
The Ministry of Health says there are 855 patients currently hospitalized with the virus in Ontario hospitals, up from 805 yesterday and from 707 a week ago. Today marks the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in a month.
Forty-nine per cent of patients were admitted for COVID-19 and 51 per cent were admitted for other reasons but subsequently tested positive for the virus, according to the ministry.
Of the current hospitalizations, 165 patients are in intensive care, down two from yesterday but up eight from a week ago.
Seventy-one per cent of ICU patients were admitted for COVID-19 and 29 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for the virus.
The ministry reported nine more virus-related deaths today, with seven occurring in the past month and two happening more than a month ago.
Since March 2020, the province says there have been 12,460 COVID-19 deaths.
Ontario labs processed 16,000 tests in the past 24 hours, resulting in a positivity rate of 17.1 per cent, compared to 13.5 per cent this time a week ago, according to the ministry.
The province confirmed another 3,233 cases today, but health officials say this is an underestimate due to limited testing.
Among the latest cases, 1,176 of the individuals have received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, 864 have received two doses, 441 are partially vaccinated and 152 have an unknown vaccination status.
To date, over 89 per cent of Ontarians aged five years and older have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 86 per cent have received two doses and 51 per cent have received three doses.
The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.
