The London region returned to double-digit COVID-19 case counts on Wednesday, following a one day drop below ten.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged 22 new infections on Wednesday, up from eight on Tuesday. Daily case numbers in London and Middlesex County have predominantly been in the teens to low 20s over the past three weeks.
The total number of cases locally since the pandemic began sits at 14,905.
There were no additional COVID-19 related deaths in the region, leaving the death toll unchanged at 252. The last time a COVID-19 death was recorded locally was on November 22.
Resolved cases are up by 16 to 14,495. There are currently 158 active cases locally, up from 152 the previous day.
Hospitalizations in the area are up by two with 22 COVID-19 patients in the care of the London Health Sciences Centre. Of those, nine are listed in intensive care and five or fewer are in Children’s Hospital. There are five or fewer hospital employees who have tested positive for the virus.
Outbreaks remain at Western University's Saugeen-Maitland Hall and Fanshawe College's Merlin House Residence. The outbreak at Western was declared Saturday, while the one at Fanshawe was confirmed a day later.
Of the 513 new cases logged over the past six weeks, 49.7 per cent are among people who are either not vaccinated, not fully vaccinated or had the shot but it had not yet begun offering protection. The remaining 50.3 per cent were among those who had received both doses of the vaccine.
Southwestern Public Health reported 13 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, increasing the local case count since the pandemic began to 5,382. The death toll was unchanged at 98. Resolved cases rose to 5,114. There are now 170 active cases in the two counties. There are two seniors' facilities dealing with outbreaks - Caressant Care On Bonnie Place in St. Thomas and Aylmer Retirement Residence. There are also ongoing outbreaks at four area schools – Pierre Elliott Trudeau French Immersion Public in St. Thomas and Glendale High, Westfield Public, and St. Joseph's Catholic in Tillsonburg.
Ontario saw single-day COVID-19 case numbers rise back above 700 on Wednesday.
A total of 780 new infections were confirmed over the past 24 hours, up from Tuesday’s 687. The seven-day average caseload is now 821, up from 692 a week ago.
Of the latest 780 new cases, 369 were among unvaccinated people, 24 involved partially vaccinated people, 336 were fully vaccinated individuals, and 51 had unknown vaccination status.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 619,270.
According to public health officials, there were six additional deaths related to the virus recorded Wednesday. The official death toll now stands at 10,005.
Hospitalizations in the province stand at 296 COVID-19 positive patients. That’s up by 30 patients from the previous day. There are 155 people in intensive care, an increase of two since Tuesday and the number of people on a ventilator is up by two to 137.
The latest figures from the Ministry of Health shows of the patients with COVID-19 on general hospital wards, 94 were unvaccinated, 12 have had one dose, and 50 were fully vaccinated. Of those in the ICU, 64 are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated and 22 have received both doses.
Resolved cases across the province are up by 965 to 602,515. That leaves 6,750 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 35,364 COVID-19 tests were processed, up from 21,476 the previous day. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 3.1 per cent.
The province has administered more than 22.9 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday night. There are 11.2 million people in Ontario who have received both doses of the vaccine and are considered fully inoculated.
