For the first time this year, the London region has set a single-day record for new COVID-19 cases.
The Middlesex London Health Unit said there were 135 new infections confirmed on Monday. That is up from 88 on Sunday and 87 on Saturday. It also breaks the previous record high for the area of 119 cases, which was set last Thursday.
The region's total case count now stands at 3,676. Resolved cases in the city and county rose to 2,752 on Monday with 30 more recoveries reported. Currently, there are 816 active cases in the region.
Two additional deaths were also reported in Middlesex London over the past 24 hours. The health unit reported two men, one in his 60s and another in his 80s, succumbed to the virus. The man in his 60s was linked to a local long-term care home, while the man in his 80s had no connection to seniors facilities. The latest deaths increase the area's death toll to 108. Over the first four days of 2021, there have been six deaths related to COVID-19.
Outbreaks remain on two units at Victoria Hospital. Fewer than five patients and less than five staff members have been infected through the outbreaks on the south London hospital's D7-200 Medicine and D5-300 Medicine units. The London Health Sciences Centre, which operates Victoria Hospital, said Monday it currently has 38 COVID-19 positive patients in its care, nine of whom are listed in intensive care.
Ten area long-term care and retirement homes are dealing with outbreaks of the virus. Facilities dealing with outbreaks are Chelsey Park, Country Terrace,Earls Court Village, Extendicare, Glendale Crossing, Middlesex Terrace, Mount Hope Centre for Long-Term Care, Oakcrossing Retirement Living, Peoplecare Oak Crossing, and Westmount Gardens. An outbreak at McGarrell Place was declared over on Sunday.
Schools dealing with outbreaks are Covenant Christian school, École secondaire catholique Monseigneur-Bruyère, and A.B. Lucas secondary. All elementary and secondary schools across the province remain closed this week with students switched to full-time remote learning. Students in Kindergarten up to Grade 8 will return to in-person learning on January 11, while high schoolers will learn online until January 22.
In Elgin and Oxford, there were 47 new COVID-19 infections recorded over the last 24 hours. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the two counties, said the latest cases bring the total case count to 1,470. Two more deaths were reported in the region to bring the death toll up to 16. There were 15 recoveries for a total of 1,053 resolved cases since the start of the pandemic. There are currently 401 active cases in the area.
For the second straight day, Ontario has set a new single-day record high for new COVID-19 cases.
Provincially, daily cases rose back above 3,000.
Public health officials confirmed 3,270 new infections on Monday, up from 2,964 cases the previous day. The latest cases fall short of Saturday's record single-day high of 3,363.
Of the new cases, 917 were in Toronto, 581 were in Peel, 389 were in York Region, 246 were in Windsor-Essex, and 131 were in Ottawa.
The total number of cases in the province has risen to 194,232.
There were an additional 29 deaths linked to the virus across the province, 14 of which were among long-term care home residents. Ontario’s death toll is now 4,679.
The number of resolved cases rose to 164,775 with 2,074 additional recoveries since Sunday. There are currently 24,778 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
According to the province’s daily report, the number of COVID-19 infected patients in Ontario hospitals has risen to 1,190. Of those in hospital, 333 are the intensive care unit and 194 are on ventilators to assist with breathing.
In the last 24 hour period, more than 39,100 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is roughly 9.7 per cent.
