The province reported eight more deaths from COVID-19 on Friday, as virus-related hospitalizations and intensive care admissions continue to decline.
The Ministry of Health says that these eight deaths occurred in the last month and five were residents of long-term residences.
As of March 2020, the province has confirmed 13,275 deaths related to the virus.
The ministry says there are 669 patients with the virus in provincial hospitals, a decrease from yesterday and a significant decrease from 948 patients a week ago, a decrease of 42 percent a week.
Among today’s hospitalized patients, 117 are in the ICU compared to 119 on Thursday and 154 a week ago. Today is the lowest number of ICU admissions since mid-August.
The ministry says 42% of COVID hospitalizations were admitted for virus-related reasons, while 57% were admitted for other reasons and tested positive.
Meanwhile, 61% of COVID ICU patients were hospitalized for virus-related reasons and 38% were admitted for other reasons and subsequently tested positive.
Provincial labs processed about 10,100 tests in the last 24 hours, producing a positivity rate of 7.3% compared to 8.4% this time a week ago, according to the ministry.
The province has confirmed 888 more coronavirus cases today, but health officials say the daily count of cases is an understatement due to limited PCR testing.
Among the latest cases, 566 of the individuals have received three or four doses of a vaccine against COVID-19, 149 have received two doses, 101 are partially or not vaccinated, and 72 have an unknown vaccination status.
Mask warrants will be lifted in all remaining high-risk indoor environments, including long-term care homes and traffic, on June 11th.
Dr. Susy Hota, an infectious disease specialist, says cases are expected to continue to decline in the summer, but could increase slightly later this month with the lifting of mask warrants and other factors.
“I see less masking in public areas and even in traffic where it’s still recommended. So we’ll have to keep a close eye on things. And the other variable is different variants that could be happening,” he said Friday morning. CP24.
“I think we just have to keep the same kind of vigilance and caution that we have in the previous waves.”
Yesterday, health officials administered 16,984 doses of vaccine across the province.
To date, 90 per cent of Ontario residents aged five and over have received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 87 per cent have received two doses and 52 per cent have received three doses.
The numbers used in this story are in the COVID-19 Daily Epidemiological Summary of the Ontario Ministry of Health. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what the province reports, because local units report figures at different times.