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

Ontario’s Ministry of Health says there are 865 patients with the virus in hospitals across the province, down from 1,116 a week ago.

Of those in hospital, 144 are in ICU, a decrease of 16 from a week ago, and the lowest occupancy rate since Nov. 28, 2021 when 135 people were in ICU.

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

Meanwhile, 65 per cent of ICU patients were admitted for the virus and 34 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.

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

Three of the latest deaths were long-term care home residents.

There have been 13,223 virus-related deaths in the province since March 2020.

Ontario labs processed 11,297 tests in the past 24 hours, producing a positivity rate of 8.5 per cent, compared to 8.9 per cent seven days ago, according to the ministry.

Health officials confirmed 1,144 more infections today but health officials say daily case counts continue to be an underestimate due to limited access to PCR testing.

Among the latest cases, 657 of the individuals have received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, 192 have received two doses, 103 are partially or unvaccinated and 192 have an unknown vaccination status.

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

To date, 90 per cent of Ontarians aged five years and older have received one dose of a COVID–19 vaccine, 87 per cent have received two doses and 52 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.