98 new COVID-19 cases, two more deaths in Hamilton
Public health says that active COVID-19 cases in Hamilton are now up to 442 as 98 new cases were reported Tuesday, mirroring an uptick trend in positive tests in Ontario generally.
The city has recorded two more deaths of patients who had been fighting the respiratory virus, which means Hamilton now has 289 COVID-19-related deaths, or three per cent of all COVID cases.
Of the deaths to date, 89 per cent have been patients over the age of 70. Four of the deaths have been under the age of 60. According to records kept by The Spectator, the latest deaths were a person in their 70s and a person over the age of 80.
The total number of cases in the city since the pandemic began stands at 10,929, with 92 per cent of those cases no longer active.
The number of patients who have been hospitalized at some point during the pandemic stands at 807, or seven per cent of all cases. In the last seven days two per cent of all tests have come back positive.
At St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, there are 13 patients being treated with the virus.
Hamilton Health Sciences hospitals are treating 37 COVID patients. There were six new reported cases and one new death reported in an ongoing outbreak at Hamilton General Hospital on Unit 5 West. There have been 19 cases and two deaths since the outbreak was declared Feb. 26.
Public health reports 11 ongoing outbreaks in institutions, eight in the community, four in workplaces, and six in schools and daycare centres.
Hamilton has so far had four cases confirmed of the variant first recorded in the United Kingdom, while the total of presumptive cases of variants remains at 125.
Presumptive cases refers to mutations of the original COVID-19 virus detected, but which need further lab testing to identify the specific variant - whether it is the U.K. version, or those thought to originate in South Africa and Brazil.
On Monday, The Spectator reported that public health is now assuming that all new cases could be one of the faster-spreading and potentially more harmful variants.
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