Ontario health minister to provide update on public health trends

TORONTO — Ontario’s health minister is set to give an update today on public health trends, as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 drives up hospitalizations.

Christine Elliott will be joined at the news conference by the CEO of Ontario Health and Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, who has said he is watching for a peak or plateau of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Dr. Kieran Moore said last week that the transmission of Omicron in the province may peak in the next few weeks, and increases in hospitalizations and ICU admissions typically happen one or two weeks after infection.

The president and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association has said that while the province’s hospitals are under immense pressure, the rate of daily admissions has decreased slightly.

Toronto’s medical officer of health said Tuesday she is seeing initial indicators that the rate of infection may have plateaued or has started to decline.

Ontario saw a record 4,183 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Tuesday, including 580 people in intensive care.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2022.

The Canadian Press