TORONTO – There are the very first signs of a settling of the peak of the wave of Covid-19 “featuring” Omicron, which could be preparatory to the descent of the curve.

The first concerns hospitalizations: today Ontario, despite an increase in the total number of Covid patients present in hospitals (from 3,448 to 3,630), recorded for the first time in recent weeks a slight decrease in admissions to intensive care units where patients fell from 505 to 500.

A figure to which must also be added the consideration, already made several times in recent days by the provincial health authorities, that 54% of hospitalized people entered the hospital for Covid-19 while the remaining 46% he was hospitalized for unrelated reasons and tested positive for the virus (but totally asymptomatic) only because he was tested at the time of admission to hospital as is now common practice. In intensive care, 82% of patients are hospitalized mainly for Covid-19, while the remaining 18% test positive once inside, but are treated for other pathologies.

Deaths are also falling compared to yesterday: 35, compared to 46 on Wednesday. The total death toll in Ontario since the start of the pandemic is now 10,480.

As for today’s cases, Ontario recorded 9,909: a certainly underestimated number, given that access to tests is limited to “at risk” categories only. What matters is the positivity rate: with 58,831 tests processed in the last 24 hours, it is 21%, more or less in line with that of the previous days. Turning to the territorial distribution of today’s cases, 1,895 new cases were reported in Toronto, 1,365 in the Peel region, 1,001 in the York region, 799 in the Durham region and 436 in the Halton region. In addition, 469 new cases were recorded in the Waterloo region and 494 in Ottawa. In all other areas the numbers are lower.

The active and known cases in Ontario are now 122,246, a sharp decrease compared to yesterday when they were 132,188: ten thousand fewer active cases. Another sign that perhaps the descent of the curve has begun.

Some timid similar signals also come from nearby Manitoba: the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 has increased, approaching 500 (499, with an increase of 45 hospitalizations in a day) but only one person entered the ICU more (46 to 47). The province also recorded 9 deaths) which bring the total, since the beginning of the pandemic, to 1,438) and 1,228 new cases (the active and known cases are now 36,087) but the positivity rate fell, in one day, from 47.2% to 44.9%. Could this be the beginning of the downward phase?

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash