According to the Department of Health, there are 1,679 people in Ontario hospitals with COVID-19, up from 1,661 the previous day. Of these patients, 209 are in the intensive care unit. The majority of people in the ICU – about 70 percent – were admitted for COVID-19 while the remaining 30 percent were positive after admission for other conditions. In all, about 44 percent of all COVID-19 patients were admitted for disease-related reasons. The 20 deaths reported on Friday included two long-term care residents. The county said 19 of those deaths occurred in the last month, while one was added to the total due to data coverage. This brings the total number of people in Ontario who have died from COVID-19 infection to 12,812. With just over 19,200 tests processed in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province’s positive rate now stands at about 13.2 percent. The last time Ontario’s positive rate fell below 10 percent was in mid-January. Officials recorded an additional 2,760 confirmed laboratory cases of COVID-19 on Friday, although with test restrictions this number is considered underestimated.
