Ontario COVID ICU patients reach pandemic high, more than 2,300 new cases

Ontario is reporting 2,333 new COVID-19 cases and 15 additional deaths on Wednesday.

The province has now reported over 2,000 cases for seven days in a row.

There were 52,532 tests completed in the last 24 hour period, up from the 36,071 tests completed a day ago. Testing numbers are typically down earlier in the week.

The test positivity rate is 4.8 percent, down from 6.2 percent a day ago. The two previous days the province posted the highest positivity rate since Jan. 19.

Locally, there are 785 new cases in Toronto, 433 in Peel, 222 in York Region, 153 in Hamilton, 124 in Ottawa and 120 in Durham.

The president of the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA), Anthony Dale, tweeted on Wednesday, saying there are now 421 COVID patients in ICU beds across the province. It marks the highest number of COVID patients in critical care since the pandemic began last year.

The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) is calling on every region in the province to go back one stage in the colour-coded pandemic framework.

The OMA says that doctors remain troubled by the exponential growth of COVID variants across the province and tougher lockdown measures are needed as soon as possible.

Premier Doug Ford says “everything is on the table” when it comes to the possibility of another lockdown, saying a decision is expected by Thursday.

The latest provincial numbers confirm 98 additional cases of the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the U.K., one additional case of the B.1.351 variant first detected in South Africa, and two additional cases of the P.1 variant first detected in Brazil.

There are now 1,898 cumulative cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, 70 cases of the B 1.351 variant, and 92 cases of the P.1 variant.

The province is reporting another 1,229 cases where a mutation has been detected but the exact lineage cannot be determined.

There were 89,873 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in the last 24 hour period.

As of 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, 2,192,253 total doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered and 315,820 people have been fully vaccinated.

The provincial government announced Tuesday that the province has secured just over 933,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine as of Monday, and in the weeks ahead they’re expecting approximately 1.5 million additional doses through April 26.

The latest round of Moderna deliveries is delayed until April 12.

York Region and Halton Region both expanded vaccine appointment bookings to include anyone aged 65 and older, starting Wednesday morning.

The province reported 2,336 cases and 14 deaths on Tuesday.