TORONTO – Another 23 deaths in Ontario, today: the number of victims of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic rises to 12,606. And after just one day of respite, hospitalizations are starting to rise again: today there were 1,392 patients in hospitals against 1,332 just 24 hours earlier. Attendance in intensive care units is only slight: 177 today, the previous day they were 182. 

Therefore, while the number of patients in intensive care seems to “fluctuate”, admissions to Covid-19 are linked again on the rise and last time that hospitalizations had been so high dates back to last February 15 when there were 1,550 Covid patients in hospitals.

Ontario’s positivity rate is now 18.1%, slightly higher than yesterday (17.5%): it hasn’t dropped below 17% since the beginning of April.

According to the daily epidemiological report, in Ontario today, another 4,589 cases were confirmed on the basis, however, only of tests reserved for “at risk” categories. The cases that are active and not are now, formalized, 33,432 against the 32,198 of yesterday and against the 31,717 of Tuesday. An escalation that however does not give the real picture of the situation: the Ontario Scientific Table, in fact, studying the data on wastewater, has found – and reiterated several times in recent days – that the number of infections in the community has risen a lot. Dr. Peter Jüni, scientific director of the table, has an indicator that the province could stabilize at around 100,000 cases of Covid-19 per day.

Hospitalizations are also on the rise in Quebec where today the people in the hospitals were 2,154 (this had not happened since last February 9) compared to 2,060 the day before. 96 patients in intensive care, against 83 yesterday. But the hospitals of the French-speaking province are in trouble above all for another reason: the staff is reduced, given that as many as 12,995 employees are absent from work due to Covid-19.

The number of deaths is still high: another 26 today, bringing the total, since the beginning of the pandemic, to 14,618.

3,190 new cases of coronavirus, detected today on the basis of 22,663 tests carried out (and reserved only for “at risk” categories): the positivity rate is 16.5%. The active and official cases are 32,556 (yesterday they were 31,677, on Tuesday 30,172) but the same goes for Ontario: these numbers, while growing, represent only the tip of the iceberg.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay