The number of new COVID-19 cases in the London region remained in the double-digits for a 20th straight day on Monday.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported 20 new infections over the past 24 hours, matching the 20 new cases logged on Sunday. There were 19 cases recorded Saturday and 33 confirmed on Friday. The area has not seen a single-digit daily increase in cases since September 14 when seven new cases were logged.
The area’s total case count stands at 14,093 since the pandemic began.
There has not been an additional COVID-19 related death locally since last Wednesday, when a man in his 70s succumbed to the virus. The death toll remains at 239.
Resolved cases in the city and county are up to 13,683. Currently, there are 171 active cases in the region, up five since the previous day.
There are now a total of 4,259 variants of concern identified in the region as of Monday. The Alpha B.1.1.7 variant accounts for 3,384 of the cases. There are 124 cases of the Gamma P.1. variant, two cases identified as the Beta B.1.351 variant, and 745 cases of the Delta B.1.617 variant. There are 189 cases that have tested positive for a mutation.
An outbreak at Wilfrid Jury public school has been declared over. The outbreak was declared on September 26 and ended over the weekend, according to the health unit. That leaves just two other schools with outbreaks - Lord Elgin public school and St. Catherine of Siena Catholic elementary school. The Thames Valley District School Board has 29 active cases at 15 schools, while the London District Catholic School Board has six active cases at three of its schools. Close contacts of the infected individuals have been notified and are isolating accordingly.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is reporting eight patients with COVID-19 in its care, down from 13 on Friday. Five or fewer of those patients are listed in intensive care and none are at Children’s Hospital. The LHSC currently has fewer than five staffers who have tested positive for the virus.
Seventeen 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. This week’s clinics include daily vaccination hours at White Oaks Mall in south London and pop-ups at schools throughout London. To see the full list of pop-up vaccination clinics in London and Middlesex County click here.
Of the 814 people in the London region who have contracted the virus over the past six weeks, 68.3 per cent were not vaccinated, 8.6 per cent were partially vaccinated, 3.8 per cent had received the vaccine but it had not yet taken effect, and 19.3 per cent were fully vaccinated. The unvaccinated account for 72.7 percent of local hospitalizations.
The number of new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Elgin and Oxford counties was 44 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 4,339. There were no additional deaths recorded over the past three days, leaving the death toll unchanged at 86. Elgin Manor in St. Thomas is the only seniors' facility dealing with an outbreak. The health unit said the total number of resolved cases in the area is 4,182, leaving 71 known active cases. As of Sunday, 85.9 per cent of all people in the two counties 12 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 81 per cent have been given both shots.
Provincially, daily cases were under 600 for a third consecutive day.
Public health officials reported 511 new infections on Monday. That is down from 580 on Sunday, and 704 on Saturday.
Regions with the most new cases Monday were Toronto with 85, Peel Region with 88, and Ottawa with 46.
The province’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 588,612.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said vaccination data was not available on Monday because of a "technical issue."
According to the province’s daily epidemiologic summary, 49 new cases have been identified as the B.1.617 (Delta) variant.
Two additional COVID-19 related deaths were reported over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll up to 9,754.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are 146 patients with COVID-19, up two from Sunday. The total number of patients in the intensive care unit is down by four to 159 and the number of patients on ventilators is down by three to 104.
The number of resolved cases rose by 488 to 573,854. There are currently 5,004 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 23,667 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s current positivity rate sits at 2 per cent.
The province has administered 21,870,930 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of Saturday night. Just over 86 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received one dose of the vaccine, while 81.2 per cent have been given their second dose to be considered fully inoculated.
