Ontario reported eight more COVID-19-related deaths on Wednesday as ICU hospitalizations and employment declined.
The Ministry of Health reported eight new net deaths over the past month.
There have been 13,351 virus-related deaths in the province since March 2020.
There are currently 506 patients with the virus in Ontario hospitals, down from 512 yesterday and 522 a week ago.
Of these hospitalized patients, 43% were hospitalized with the virus and 57% were hospitalized for other reasons and subsequently tested positive for the virus.
Meanwhile, 115 of these hospitalized patients are in intensive care, one less than yesterday and one more than a week ago.
The ministry says 53% of ICU patients were admitted with COVID and 47% were admitted for other reasons and tested positive for the virus.
Officials say 49 ICU patients are breathing with the help of a ventilator.
Ontario labs processed 10,385 tests in the last 24 hours, producing a positivity rate of 6.9%, up from 6.4% a week ago.
The province has confirmed 786 more infections today, but health officials say the daily count of cases is an understatement due to limited access to PCR tests.
Of the most recent cases, 532 received three or more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, 104 received two doses, 81 were partially or not vaccinated, and 69 had an unknown vaccination status.
Yesterday, the province administered more than 13,900 doses of vaccine across the province.
To date, 90% of Ontario residents aged five and over have received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 87% have received two and 52% have received three.
On Tuesday, the federal government announced it would suspend vaccination mandates for outbound domestic and international travel and federally regulated workers from June 20.
Requirements for foreign nationals coming to Canada will not change.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, a specialist in infectious diseases, says the lifting of mandates should not lead to a significant increase in COVID infections.
“Honestly, I don’t think there’s much of a fall in that, from the point of view of infection transmission, to public transportation. I don’t, and that’s in the Omicron era. All of these policies have to “Stay up to date and keep up with science,” he told CP24 on Wednesday morning.
Starting Thursday, Ontario will move from daily COVID reports to weekly data due to improved pandemic conditions.
Bogoch says he personally would have liked the daily reports to be kept in place.
“I think numbers can help drive smart behavior change, and I think more granular information and transparency is obviously key. But you know, you obviously don’t want to turn information into a weapon, and sometimes we saw that this could also be happening. My prejudice would be to keep these updates daily. They were imperfect but still useful, “he told CP24 on Wednesday morning.
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.