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Ontario reports over 1,000 deaths from COVID in January; top doc points to Delta
COVID-19 so far this month, a grim figure the province’s top doctor largely attributes to the previous, more virulent strain of the virus, though he admits the data is murky.The province has logged persistently high numbers of fatalities each day this month, despite the dominant Omicron variant of the virus typically causing milder illness and all but replacing the more severe Delta variant almost six weeks ago, while circulating among a well-vaccinated population.Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said officials are trying to ascertain what factors are causing so many Ontarians to die, including whether Delta or Omicron or a combination of the two is responsible, but whole genome sequencing to determine variant type takes weeks.Essentially 100 per cent of outbreaks in the community are Omicron right now, Moore said, but roughly 10 per cent of hospital admissions are still “relevant to Delta.” Ontario to update data reporting so that possible incidental COVID deaths are identified: top doc “Death is a delayed signal from an outbreak, given that we’ve got access to health care and an ability to try to protect people through hospitalization and intensive care unit settings,” he said this week.“In the first several weeks of January, we’re confident that a significant proportion of (the deaths) were from Delta.”Dr.