Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports a rise in hospitalizations; Muslims prepare to celebrate Ramadan together after restrictions lifted

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Saturday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

10:30 a.m. (updated) The Ontario Ministry of Health is reporting 855 hospitalizations on Saturday, up from 805 on Friday and from 707 a week ago. Of the current hospitalizations, 165 patients are in ICU. There were seven new COVID-19 deaths reported.

The province recorded 3,233 new cases of COVID-19 today, but Ontario’s top doctor has said the actual number is likely 10 times higher than the daily tally since access to PCR testing is limited.

Wastewater monitoring suggests COVID-19 cases have been on the rise since last month.

About 10 per cent of Ontario’s long-term care homes currently report active outbreaks of COVID-19.

7:55 a.m. Mohsin Patel has been working hard to prepare a program that will be providing free meals for those in need during the month of Ramadan.

The member of the mosque committee at the Mecca Islamic Center in east Toronto expects the weeks ahead to be fulfilling as Muslims gather to pray and eat together without any major COVID-19 restrictions for the first time in two years.

“We are excited that we will be celebrating Ramadan together in the mosque,” Patel said in an interview. “We cannot wait. This month is really precious for us.”

Mosques across Canada are getting ready to host prayers at full capacity during the holy month after provinces and territories lifted the vast majority of their COVID-19 restrictions, including capacity limits.

Read more from The Canadian Press.

7:20 a.m. The prevalence of COVID-19 in the U.K. has reached record levels, with about 1 in 13 people estimated to be infected with the virus in the past week, latest figures from Britain’s official statistics agency showed.

Some 4.9 million people were estimated to have the coronavirus in the week ending March 26, up from 4.3 million recorded in the previous week, the Office for National Statistics said Friday, The latest surge is driven by the more transmissible omicron variant BA.2, which is the dominant variant across the U.K.

Hospitalizations and death rates are again rising, although the number of people dying with COVID-19 is still relatively low compared with earlier this year. Nonetheless, the latest estimates suggest that the steep climb in new infections since late February, when Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrapped all remaining coronavirus restrictions in England, continued well into March.

Read more from The Associated Press.

7 a.m. The winter Omicron surge has sent more kids with COVID-19 to Ontario hospitals than previous pandemic waves, and now some hospitals are starting to plan for a new uptick in children admitted with the virus.

Doctors say they anticipate a rise in pediatric hospitalizations following the swell of COVID infections seen since March break, fuelled by the new highly transmissible subvariant of Omicron and the removal of most public health measures in the province, including mandatory mask wearing.

While kids admitted to hospital with Omicron infections are not experiencing more severe symptoms compared to previous COVID variants, the province’s pediatric hospitals are again reviewing their capacity plans in case of a spring surge of patients, said Dr. Upton Allen, division head of infectious disease at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Read more from the Star’s Megan Ogilvie.

6:35 a.m. COVID-19 hospitalization numbers have plunged to their lowest levels since the early days of the pandemic, offering a much needed break to health care workers and patients alike following the omicron surge.

The number of patients hospitalized with the coronavirus has fallen more than 90 per cent in more than two months, and some hospitals are going days without a single COVID-19 patient in the ICU for the first time since early 2020.

The freed up beds are expected to help U.S. hospitals retain exhausted staff, treat non-COVID-19 patients more quickly and cut down on inflated costs. More family members can visit loved ones. And doctors hope to see a correction to the slide in pediatric visits, yearly checkups and cancer screenings.

6:15 a.m. Starting Friday, travellers to Canada who are considered fully vaccinated will no longer require COVID-19 tests in order to enter the country by air, land or water.

Federal officials announced the changes earlier this month, following warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO) about the rise in sequenced cases of the BA. 2, a subvariant of the Omicron strain that is seeing cases of COVID-19 rise globally, especially in parts of Asia.

The BA. 2 subvariant is driving cases here in Canada as well, plunging Quebec into a sixth wave of COVID-19 this week. COVID-19 continues to impact Ontario hospitals, that are reporting a rising number of employees testing positive for the virus in recent weeks.

“These increases are occurring despite reductions in testing in some countries, which means the cases we are seeing are just the tip of the iceberg,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Read more from the Star’s Ivy Mak: Here’s what’s changing with Canada’s pandemic travel rules:

6 a.m. Hong Kong authorities on Saturday asked the entire population of more than 7.4 million people to voluntarily test themselves for COVID-19 at home for three days in a row starting next week.

The announcement by Chief Executive Carrie Lam came as the southern Chinese city is struggling to contain its worst outbreak with authorities sending mixed signals about testing and lockdowns.

The prospect of further school closures and other disruptions has the government caught between calls for loosening restrictions and Beijing’s demand for an extreme “zero-COVID” approach mandating lockdowns and mass testing.

Read more from The Associated Press.

5:30 a.m. With Ontario’s mask mandate in the rearview mirror and a lack of widespread provincial testing, you may be wondering about the COVID-19 spread in your community.

In the absence of any official public database of COVID signals in the GTA’s sewage, the Toronto Star brings you its own COVID wastewater signal map to give you a sense as to whether cases are increasing, decreasing or remaining stable in your area.

The Star’s signal map uses data sourced from each GTA public health unit and the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table showing trends in sewersheds or wastewater catchment areas for each treatment plant across the region.

Read more from the Star’s May Warren and Kenyon Wallace.