TORONTO – Covid hospitalizations continue to drop in Ontario: today 2,155 patients were hospitalized with the coronavirus, compared to 2,230 on Sunday, while the number of patients in intensive care remained unchanged at 486. Deaths also decreased, today “only” 11: Sunday there were 56. Since the start of the pandemic, Ontario has recorded 11,836 related deaths from (or with) Covid-19. 

As for the new infections – always remembering that the number is far from reality due to the limitation of access to tests to the “at risk” categories only – today 2,088 were registered, based on 12,880 swabs, with a rate of positivity of 14.2 percent. Most of the cases were detected in Toronto (370), Peel Region (147), Ottawa (138) and York Region (137). Other areas with a number of cases related to Windsor-Essex (114), Middlesex-London (106) and Hamilton (91) The active and known cases in Ontario are currently 33,435.

On the vaccine front, a total of 31,025,150 have been administered in Ontario so far. As of Sunday – when 24,392 doses were distributed – 89% of Ontarians 5 years of age and older received one dose of the vaccine, 84% received two doses, 47% three. About 54% of children between the ages of 5 and 11 received at least one dose, up from 53% last week.

In Quebec, on the other hand, after the steady decline in hospitalizations recorded in the last weeks, the number of people in hospital has increased slightly – by 14 units – in the last 24 hours. The hospitalized are now 2,425. The number of people in intensive care has also increased – by 1 unit – to a total of 178 intensive care patients. Another 20 deaths have also been recorded, for a total of 13,495 deaths in Quebec since the start of the pandemic.

The province also recorded 2,240 new cases of Covid-19 – with a positive rate of 10.4% – which however represent the tip of the iceberg due to the limitations of access to tests only to “at risk” categories, such as for Ontario.

The data that emerges from the self-declarations made by citizens through the portal set up by the Province to monitor the progress of the pandemic through quick do-it-yourself tests, instead, is more realistic: of the 1,091 results of the rapid antigen tests uploaded today on the government website, 813 tested positive. The total figure – since the portal was activated – is eloquent: out of 66,683 self-declared rapid tests, 51. 381 are positive (as can be seen in the table above – click on it to enlarge – taken from the Twitter profile of the Ministry of Health of Quebec  https://twitter.com/sante_qc). “Officially”, however, the active and known cases (i.e. detected through molecular tests) in Quebec are 35,064.

On the vaccine front, another 22,265 doses were administered in the last 24 hours (of which 13,023 booster), for a total of 17,992,280 doses administered in Quebec. Another 287,032 doses were administered to Quebec citizens outside the province. At the moment, therefore, health workers have administered: 7,391,089 first doses covering 91% of the eligible population, 6,939,293 second doses covering 85% of the population and 3,869,850 booster shots covering 47% of the population.

Finally, let’s see the state of hospitalizations in Canada, province by province, up to yesterday: Ontario 2,155, Quebec 2,425, Alberta 1,584, British Columbia 946, Manitoba 517, Saskatchewan 332, New Brunswick 159, Nova Scotia 95, Newfoundland and Labrador 20, Prince Edward Island 12.