Ontario is reporting 72 new deaths related to COVID-19, as sewage signals are on the rise again after trending downward for months, according to the latest report from Public Health Ontario.
New data released Thursday by the Ontario Ministry of Health shows the number of people hospitalized with the virus has risen from 1,141 this time last week to 1,265 this week.
The number of people in intensive care with COVID-19 also increased slightly, from 129 to 133. Of these, 57 patients need a ventilator to breathe, about the same as the total of 58 in the last week.
Test positivity on Thursday fell slightly to 12.5% from 13.1% last Thursday.
Meanwhile, the latest report from Public Health Ontario, which is updated every Friday, shows that the level of the novel coronavirus observed in Ontario’s wastewater began to increase around the first week of September and is estimated which it has since increased.
This is after a period of plateauing and slow decline after peaking in early July.
Sewage signals increased in most parts of the province, including the Greater Toronto Area, with the Central East and West regions seeing the steepest climbs. The mid-east includes Haliburton Kawartha and Pine Ridge; Peterborough; and Simcoe Muskoka, while the mid-west includes Brant County; Haldimand-Norfolk; Hamilton and Niagara Region.
The news comes as Ontario opened reservations for targeted Omicron COVID-19 vaccines to all adults on Monday.
Last week, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore noted that vaccination among Ontario’s youngest age group was lower than expected.
“We have work to do to continue our (official) message,” he told The Canadian Press at the time. “It will accelerate as we head inland and as we head into the fall as we perceive the risk of transmission will increase.”
The most recent wave of the disease to hit Ontario – which began June 19 and peaked in early August – is largely fueled by the BA variant of Omicron. 5.
Earlier this month, members of Ontario’s now-disbanded Science Advisory Table said they would have advised against the province’s decision to scrap COVID-19 isolation requirements if they had been consulted during the move.
On August 31, the province removed the mandatory five-day isolation period for people who tested positive for COVID-19.
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