TORONTO – The sixth wave of Covid-19 is there, and it shows. Today, Ontario recorded another 10 deaths, bringing the total in the province, since the beginning of the pandemic, to 12,470. On the other hand, the updated data on hospitalizations due – a provincial health official said – to a scheduled maintenance of the computer systems are not available. But Saturday’s figure is enough to make it clear that the Omicron BA.2 variant is making the numbers rise with impressive speed: 855 people admitted to hospitals in the province, compared to 807 last Thursday and, above all, to 553 of just one week ago (March 28). 

With regard to infections, on the basis of approximately 14,000 tests processed in the last 24 hours (but, we remind, reserved only for the “at risk” categories), 3,077 new infections were detected, for a positivity rate of 16.7%. The active and known cases now are, officially, 24,603, almost 4,000 more than the 20,748 of last Thursday. The surge in the number of ongoing infections is staggering, especially if you consider that these figures represent only the tip of the iceberg given limited access to testing. The number of current positives, the experts said last week, could be as much as ten times higher.

But now let’s see the state of hospitalizations province by province, comparing today’s numbers with those of Tuesday 15 March, Tuesday 22 March, Monday 28 March and Wednesday 30 March (in parentheses, the hospitalized in the previous weeks). You will immediately notice the net increases in hospitalizations in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. Quebec 1,275 (March 30, 1,153; March 28, 1,048; March 22, 1,002; March 15, 1,077); Alberta 964 (March 30, 956; March 28, 956; March 22, 966; March 15, 1,045); Ontario 855 (March 30, 790; March 28, 553; March 22, 551; March 15, 722); Saskatchewan 324 (March 30, 306; March 28, 306; March 22, 299; March 15, 339); British Columbia 274 (March 30, 288; March 28, 260; March 22, 290; March 15, 368); New Brunswick 142 (March 30, 142; March 28, 129; March 22, 99; March 15, 103); Manitoba 111 (March 30, 165; March 28, 165; March 22, 182; March 15, 162); Nova Scotia 40 (March 30, 29; March 28, 29; March 22, 26; March 15, 50); Newfoundland and Labrador 27 (March 30, 33; March 28, 27; March 22, 31; March 15, 22); Prince Edward Island 19 (March 30, 19; March 28, 22; March 22, 27; March 15, 17).

Photo by Graham Ruttan on Unsplash