Ontario reports 75 new COVID-19 related deaths Thursday as province's top doctor set to speak
CBC
Ontario's chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore is providing an update on the province's COVID-19 response at 3:00 p.m. ET. CBC News will carry the news conference live.
Ontario is reporting 75 new deaths related to COVID-19 on Thursday as the province's top doctor is set to hold a briefing in the afternoon, his first appearance since public health restrictions began to ease this week.
The Ministry of Health said Thursday morning that as of Wednesday there were 2,797 people with COVID-19 in the province's hospitals. That's down from 2,939 the day before and 3,645 at the same time last week.
About 56 per cent of those patients were admitted for COVID-related illnesses while 44 per cent were already in hospital when they tested positive for the virus, according to the ministry.
The number of patients with COVID-19 in intensive care is also on the decline. There were 541 patients with COVID-19 who required intensive care, down from 555 the day before and 599 the same time last week.
Roughly 83 per cent of the people with COVID-19 in ICUs were admitted for reasons directly related to the virus.
The additional 75 COVID-19 deaths reported Thursday pushes the province's official toll to 11,651.
Dr. Kieran Moore's Thursday briefing comes after modelling from the province's expert pandemic advisers predicted COVID-19 cases would rise after Monday's partial reopening.
The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table said relaxing public health measures aimed at controlling the Omicron variant would increase virus spread, but the experts couldn't say by how much.
The group said outcomes will depend partly on how many people have recently been infected, a number that is hard to determine because the province has limited access to PCR testing. The province is, however, planning to rely more heavily on rapid antigen tests as supplies arrive from the federal government.
Restaurants, gyms and cinemas among other venues were allowed to reopen to half capacity on Monday with proof-of vaccination rules in place for guests.
Social gathering limits were increased to 10 people indoors and some surgeries that were paused to preserve health system capacity were also allowed to resume.