Ontario COVID update: 1,453 people in hospital with the virus, 168 in intensive care | Globalnews.ca

Ontario is reporting 1,453 people in hospital with COVID-19. There are 168 people in intensive care with or due to the virus.

That marks an increase of two hospitalizations and a decrease of seven people in intensive care compared to Thursday’s report.

Last Friday, there were 1,662 people reported to be in hospital with COVID-19, with 210 in intensive care.

According to the latest provincial data, 60.08 per cent of people in hospital with COVID were admitted for another reason but tested positive for the virus, while 39.92 per cent were admitted because of COVID.

Of those in intensive care, 39.09 per cent were admitted for other reasons, while 60.91 per cent were admitted because of the virus.

Last Friday, 58.35 per cent of those in hospital with COVID were admitted for other reasons, while in intensive care units that figure was about 38.41 per cent.

Eighteen new COVID-19-related deaths were also reported Friday, all of which occurred within the past month.

The provincial death toll stands at 13,052.

The province is also reporting 1,969 new COVID-19 cases, but that is an underestimation due to PCR testing restrictions. There have now been 1,283,329 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ontario.

There were 16,020 tests completed in the previous day; 5,856 tests remain under investigation.

The positivity rate stands at 12 per cent, up from 10.7 per cent on Thursday and down from 13.8 per cent last Friday.