TORONTO – Slight increase in Covid hospitalizations today in Ontario. 1,106 people in hospital, compared to 1,038 yesterday. 319 in ICU, same number on Tuesday. However, the percentage of those in hospital for the virus and not for other pathologies falls: 49% for ordinary Covid wards, 77.5% for intensive care. 

The total number of deaths remains: another 19 today, bringing the total in Ontario, from the beginning, to 12,306 (the total number may vary every day because the data is “cleaned up”).

The province reported 1,425 new cases today, it being understood that the tests are limited only to the “at risk” categories: 15,692 swabs processed in the last 24 hours, with a positive rate of 10.8 percent. In the Greater Toronto Area, 224 new cases were recorded in Toronto, 95 in the Peel region, 81 in the York region, 74 in the Durham region and 38 in the Halton region. Also reported 72 new cases in Ottawa, 67 in Algoma and 66 in the Kingston area. All other areas recorded fewer than 60 new cases. There are currently 18,690 active cases.

2,701 healings of today’s pandemic: the total number of patients healed in Ontario from the beginning is now at 1,060,530, while the total number of laboratory confirmed cases is 1,091,526.

Admissions in Quebec continue to decline: Tuesday they fell by 70 Tuesday (now they are 1,672), with 106 hospitalized patients and 176 discharged. ICU patients dropped to 102, a drop of 5. 17 deaths, bringing the total Quebec pandemic, from the beginning, to 13,903.

Once again, the contagion data is interesting: only for Quebec, in fact, it is possible to verify how far the “official” data are from the reality of the situation. The new infections detected today are 1,861 but this number is based exclusively on “official” tests, the molecular ones reserved for “at risk” categories. The real figure is that of the online portal set up about a month ago by the Quebec government to allow citizens to self-declare the results of do-it-yourself tests done at home. Well, so far a total of 92,636 rapid tests have been declared and of these 72,206 were positive. Only today, 518 were entered, of which 376 were positive. It is clear that the spread of the virus, albeit in a milder form, is still very high.

Quebec is encouraging citizens to declare the status of their “home” rapid test so provincial health officials can get a clearer picture of infection levels in the province, as “official” tracking is no longer reliable: just think that the cases currently active and known in Quebec are, officially, 19,282. If we add this number to that of the government portal, the actual positives could reach 100 thousand because, even considering any healed in the time between the opening of the site and today, it should be borne in mind that self-declarations are optional and probably only a part of Quebec citizens enter test results in the portal …

Photo by CDC on Unsplash