The latest COVID update from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, published April 25, includes one death and seven new hospitalizations.
A Simcoe County man over 79 years old died on April 22.
He is the 21st person to die this month after contracting the virus.
Testing has captured 468 new COVID cases in the region since the last update on April 22. Because testing is not available to everyone, case counts are underestimated.
The case data included in the latest update may be incomplete as there are some issues with the provincial lab reporting feed.
Cases have decreased week-over-week with 1,064 new cases reported during the week of April 17-23, which is down 19 per cent from 1,318 cases reported during the week of April 10-16.
There are 26 people from the region currently hospitalized because of COVID-19. This number does not include people who were hospitalized for other reasons and also test positive for COVID-19.
Hospitalizations have also decreased in the last two weeks with 19 new hospitalizations reported between April 10 and 16, and seven reported between April 17 and 23.
Since the start of the pandemic, the local health unit has confirmed 42,886 cases of COVID-19 with 40,711 of those cases recovered and 465 cases ending in death.
Of the deaths reported by the health unit since March 2020, 404 were COVID-related, 51 deaths were not related to COVID-19 but the person tested positive, and for 10 of them, the cause of death is unknown or pending.
The health unit reported 25 deaths in March, and 21 so far in April.
To date, 83 per cent of the population aged five years old and up are fully vaccinated with two or more doses, and 18 per cent of the region's total population (including children) is unvaccinated.
There are 41 active outbreaks in Simcoe-Muskoka, down from 49 outbreaks on April 18. The current active outbreaks include 17 in institutional settings (hospitals, long-term care, retirement homes), 19 in congregate settings (group homes, shelters), and five at child-care centres.
A list of outbreaks is available on the health unit website here.
According to monitoring of the region's hospitals by the health unit, about 67 per cent of the region's ICU beds are full and about 45 per cent of the ventilator beds are occupied. Acute care occupancy is highest with 88 per cent of the beds in the region currently full.
Here's a look at the Ontario COVID update for April 25.
The Collingwood General and Marine Hospital is reporting as of April 25, there are five COVID-positive inpatients at the hospital. This can include people admitted because of COVID and those hospitalized for other reasons who also test positive for COVID.
