Ontario Covid 19 News Province Reports 10 New Deaths Hospitalizations Hit Highest Point Since Feb.

The Ministry of Health reports that six deaths on Friday occurred in the last 30 days and another four occurred before this period.
Two were residents of the long-term care system.
86 deaths have been reported in the last seven days and 378 in the last 30 days.
There have now been 12,537 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in Ontario as of March 2020.
Meanwhile, hospital admissions rose to their highest level since February 19 on Friday at 1,135.
About half of these patients were admitted to the hospital but were later found to be positive.
In the intensive care unit, occupancy increased by seven to 166. Seventy to eighty percent of ICU-positive patients who tested positive for COVID-19 were transferred there specifically because of their COVID-19 diagnosis.
Of these, 86 breathed with the help of a ventilator.
The Ontario Scientific Advisory Board for COVID-19 now estimates that the daily transmission increases by about 38 percent from the bottom of the original Omicron wave in the province, to at least 220-230 cases per million people per day.
Sewage surveillance data, which detect viral replicas of SARS-COV-2 virus in water treatment plants, suggest that the virus prevalence is above the original January Omicron peak in northern Ontario and in all areas east of GTA .
UHN Infectious Diseases Specialist, Dr.  Isaac Bogoch says that no matter what the current rules require, if you have a mask now, you should wear it indoors.
“Now, when you have the choice to wear a mask, you have to wear a mask.  It is quite clear that there is a lot of COVID out there.  “It will protect you and those around you,” he said.
Although limited to selected groups, PCR testing in the province identified 4,295 new COVID-19 cases on Friday – the highest number since January 29.
The Ministry of Health said 513 of Friday’s cases were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, 1,098 had two doses of vaccine, 2,444 had three doses of vaccine and the vaccination status of 240 others was unknown.
Significant restrictions on access to PCR tests came into force on December 30, 2021.
Provincial laboratories processed 17,565 samples in the previous period, generating a positivity rate of at least 19 percent.
Positiveness has risen from an average of 9 to 10 percent last month to 17.5 percent in the last seven days.
The Ministry of Health reports that 23,530 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered on Thursday.
Of these, 1,028 were first installments, 1,829 were second installments, 4,895 were third installments and 15,778 were fourth installments, as the province has expanded its suitability for fourth installments to include anyone aged 60 and over.
The numbers used in this story are in the Ontario Department of Health’s Daily Epidemiological Summary COVID-19.  The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from that reported by the province, as local units report data at different times.