The number of new COVID-19 cases recorded daily in the London region was in the single-digits for two of the last three days.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported seven new infections on Monday, 11 on Sunday, and eight on Saturday. The health unit released three days worth of data on Monday as it no longer reports COVID-19 figures over the weekend. So far, the daily case count has reached double-digits three times this month - including 11 cases August 1 and 16 cases August 6. The region also logged its first zero new case day on August 3, the first time no new infections were reported by the health unit since September 5, 2020.
The area’s total case count stands at 12,862 since the pandemic began.
There has not been a COVID-19 related death locally since July 30, leaving the death toll unchanged at 231.
Resolved cases in the city and county are up by 21 to 12,569. Currently, there are 62 active cases in the region.
There were ten additional cases involving variants of concern identified in the region since Friday, increasing the total to 3,647. The Alpha B.1.1.7 variant, which originated in the U.K., accounts for 3,382 of the cases. There are 120 cases of the Gamma P.1. variant from Brazil, two cases identified as the Beta B.1.351 variant from South Africa, and 129 cases of the B.1.617 variant that originated in India. There are 187 cases that have tested positive for a mutation.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is reporting a slight decrease in the number of patients with COVID-19 in its care. Currently, there are seven COVID-positive patients admitted to the hospital, down from eight on Friday. Fewer than five of those patients are listed in intensive care. The LHSC currently has fewer than five staffers who have tested positive for the virus.
Eight more walk-in, pop-up vaccination clinics are planned this week for people who still need either their first or second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The health unit run clinics are for anyone aged 12 or older. The first two will be held Monday at Westmont Public School at 1011 Viscount Rd. and at Knollwood Park Public School at 70 Gammage St. On Tuesday, another two clinics are planned at Lord Elgin Public School at 1100 Victoria Dr. and at Arthur Ford Public School at 617 Viscount Rd. Those will be followed by two clinics on Wednesday at White Oaks Public School at 565 Bradley Ave. and at Wilfred Jury Public School at 950 Lawson Rd. On Thursday there will be a pop-up at the health unit offices at Citi Plaza downtown and on Friday there will be another at Beacock Library at 1280 Huron St. The Middlesex London Paramedic Service will also hold a pop-up clinic for adults 18 and older from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday at the Melbourne Fire Station in Melbourne and another on Friday at the Lucan Community Memorial Centre in Lucan. To see the full list of pop-up vaccination clinics in London and Middlesex County click here.
Of the people in the London region who have contracted the virus over the past six weeks, 67.4 per cent were not vaccinated, 23.2 per cent were partially vaccinated, 2.3 per cent had received the vaccine but it had not yet taken effect, and 7 per cent were vaccinated. The unvaccinated account for 80 percent of local hospitalizations and 100 percent of the virus related deaths.
The number of new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Elgin and Oxford counties was 11 on Monday. That number includes infections identified both Saturday and Sunday, as Southwestern Public Health does not update its COVID-19 dashboard on weekends. The latest cases bring the two counties total case count to 3,991. There were no additional deaths recorded over the past three days, leaving the death toll unchanged at 84. There are currently no active institutional outbreaks locally. The health unit said the total number of resolved cases in the area is 3,879, leaving 28 known active cases. As of Sunday, 79.7 per cent of all people in the two counties 12 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 67.7 per cent have been given both shots.
Provincially, daily cases fell back below 350 after jumping to a high not seen since mid-June over the weekend.
Public health officials reported 325 new infections on Monday. That is down from 423 on Sunday - the province's highest daily case count since it confirmed 447 new infections on June 14. On Saturday, 378 cases were reported.
Regions with the most new cases over the past 24 hours were Toronto with 90, Peel Region with 47, and York and Hamilton with 29 each.
The province’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 552,804.
According to the province’s daily epidemiologic summary, Ontario identified five more cases of the B.1.1.7. variant, or Alpha as it is known, since the previous day for a total of 145,593. There was one additional case of the P.1 variant, Gamma, to bring the total to 5,174, and the number of new cases of the B.1.351 variant, Beta, was unchanged to leave the total at 1,493. There were 157 more cases identified as the B.1.617 (Delta) variant, originally found in India, increasing the total to 5,380.
No additional COVID-19 related deaths were reported over the past 24 hours. The province’s death toll remains at 9,407.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are 94 patients with COVID-19. That is up six from the previous day. The total number of patients in the intensive care unit is down by two to 113 and the number of patients on ventilators is down by two to 83. ICU numbers include patients who previously tested positive for COVID-19 but have since recovered and remain due to other complications.
The number of resolved cases rose by 192 to 541,022. There are currently 2,375 known active cases of the virus in Ontario, up from 1,429 two weeks ago.
In the last 24 hour period, 15,805 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s current positivity rate sits at 1.5 per cent.
The province has administered 19,902,159 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of Sunday night, that includes 29,949 doses administered over the past 24 hours. There have been more than 9.3 million people in Ontario who have received their second dose of the vaccine to be considered fully inoculated.
