Variants of concern now account for more than half of all COVID-19 cases in Ontario — and as people grow tired of more than a year of public health measures, officials are concerned about a dramatic rise in infections as they become the predominant strains of the novel coronavirus.
That’s the message from Dr. Barbara Yaffe, associate medical director of fitness, at a provincial news conference Thursday.
There are currently 1,563 reported cases of the fear variant in Ontario, most of which are the B117 variant first known in the UK. A further 51 have been shown to be the variant first known in South Africa and 54 are the variant first known in Brazil.
It takes an intensive genetic sequencing process to pinpoint which variant of concern is present in a sample, however, resulting in significant reporting lags.
In fact, at least 15,657 samples tested positive for a telltale mutation indicating the presence of a variant of concern.
Ontario’s seven-day average positivity rate is 4. 2. About 50. 5 percent of COVID-19 tests are also for the mutation, up from 43. 8 percent just a week ago.
“Daily cases are rising, hospitalizations are rising, and ICU admissions are rising,” Yaffe told reporters. “As the [variants] are the main strains, the fear is that the infection rate will increase. “
Ontario reported 2,380 cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, though the Ministry of Health said 280 of those cases were due to a “catch-up process” in the provincial system.
Excluding those cases, it is still the highest daily count since Jan. 24, or about two months.
The ministry said when or where the 280 additional cases came from, or why they were missed earlier.
Today’s total includes 1,016 cases in Toronto, 294 in Peel Region, 244 in York Region and 152 in Ottawa.
They come as Ontario experienced a record day for COVID-19 vaccines. Public fitness teams administered a combined 79,446 doses yesterday. An additional 304,386 people in the province have already received any of the vaccines.
Ontario has now distributed more than 98 per cent of the 1,780,135 vaccine doses it obtained from the federal government.
Meanwhile, laboratories conducted 60,077 tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and recorded a positivity rate of 3. 8 percent.
The seven-day average of daily cases rose to 1,794 and has been rising for the past 10 days.
Critical Care Services Ontario (CCSO), a government company that compiles a report for hospitals and physical care organizations, said the number of COVID-19 patients requiring extensive care has risen to 380. Admissions to extensive care facilities peaked in mid-January, about 420, according to the CCSO.
Critical care doctors told CBC News that some Ontario hospitals are moving more patients to other regions in an effort to free themselves from new admissions.
In addition, doctors in the Greater Toronto Area have noted that, anecdotally, they are caring for more young patients with severe COVID-19.
They say their observations could be, in part, due to the prevelance of variants of concern in the province.
Ontario’s COVID-19 science advisory table, a group of experts that helps guide the province’s pandemic response, estimates that variants of concern now account for about 58 per cent of all new cases.
Public gyms also recorded the deaths of 17 more people with the disease, bringing the official number to 7,280. The seven-day average of daily deaths is lately just over 10, significantly lower than the peak of more than 60 recorded in the second wave in mid-January.
Data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) indicates that COVID-19 hospitalizations in Canada cost $23,000 per stay, approximately 4 times more than the average.
CIHI said the average length of stay for a COVID-related hospitalization in Canada was two weeks.
The company analyzed data from January to November 2020, but came with Quebec.
During this period, the estimated total cost of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Canada exceeded $317 million.
There were just about 14,000 hospitalizations of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in Canada between January and November of this year, as well as more than 85,400 emergency room visits for COVID-19.
Of the 13,906 COVID-related hospitalizations analyzed, CIHI found that 57. 1 percent were discharged, while 18. 7 percent, or 2,605, died in the hospital.
With files from The Canadian Press
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