TORONTO – The attention of the world of science is now entirely focused on hospitalizations and deaths. Counting infections from Covid-19 has become impossible, both due to the consequences of the limitations on access to molecular tests (now reserved for the “risk” categories, at least in Canada), and due to the fact that the vast majority of cases are asymptomatic: the virus circulates and, fact, we no longer know where, how, when and how much.

The only reliable data to understand the state of the pandemic are therefore hospital admissions and, unfortunately, deaths.

Today in Ontario there were 3,595 people covered in hospital with Covid-19, of which 579 in intensive care with an increase of 21 people in the last 24 hours. The total number of people admitted to hospital has dropped (3,957 on Saturday), but some hospitals on weekends do not report the data.

Ontario also recorded 10,450 new infections today, but, as mentioned, the number is an underestimate of the real “count” of cases. The positivity rate, that is the ratio between tests carried out and cases detected, tells us something more: today it was 22.7%.

There is no doubt, however, about the number of deaths: another 40, today in Ontario, with the total – from the beginning of the pandemic – rising to 10,605.

Returning to the cases, of those of today 2,196 were recorded in Toronto, 1,652 in the Peel region, 880 in the York region, 699 in the Durham region, 552 in the Halton region, 531 in the Waterloo region and 388 in Ottawa. The active and known cases in Ontario are, in all, 94,408.

For Quebec it was an even darker weekend. 96 people died on Saturday: the last time the Quebec Institute of Public Health (INSPQ) reported so many deaths was May 5, 2020, when 100 deaths were reported. Today (Sunday), the deaths were 21. Now the total deaths in Quebec, since the beginning of the pandemic, is 12,310.

Admissions in Quebec increased by 105 today, with 419 new patients and 314 discharged. There are now 3,300 people in hospital and 282 of these are in intensive care, an increase of 7 in one day. Of the new patients, 289 have been vaccinated twice, 122 are unvaccinated, 7 have received a dose of the vaccine, and 1 is less than five years old.

There are now 93,595 active and known cases in Quebec.

Across Canada, there are 353,829 active and known cases while hospitalizations are distributed as follows: Ontario 3,595, Quebec 3,300, Alberta 822, British Columbia 646, Manitoba 481, Saskatchewan 150, New Brunswick 113, Nova Scotia 78, Newfoundland and Labrador 8 , Prince Edward Island 5. The victims of Covid-19 in Canada since the beginning of the pandemic are 31,500.

Photo by Irwan iwe on Unsplash