The number of COVID-19 ICU admissions and hospital worker infections were down slightly in London and Middlesex County Thursday, while the number of deaths from the virus continued to climb.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported three additional people have died from the virus - a woman in her 90s and two men in their 60s and 80s. None of the latest deaths are linked to area seniors' facilities. There have now been ten COVID-19 deaths recorded locally this month. The death toll since the pandemic began now stands at 310.
The health unit logged 189 new cases on Thursday. However, daily infection tallies aren’t as meaningful since the provincial government limited who can receive a free PCR test at the end of December. The total number of cases locally since March of 2020 is now 29,677, according to the health unit.
The number of resolved cases is up to 27,632. Currently, there are 1,735 known active cases in the region, down six from the previous day.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) confirmed on Thursday there are 139 people with COVID-19 admitted to its facilities. That is up by three from 136 on Wednesday. Of the 139, there are 86 being treated for COVID-19 and 53 being treated for other ailments but who have also tested positive for the virus.
There was a slight decrease in the number of COVID-19 positive patients in the intensive care unit. The LHSC reported 25 in the ICU on Thursday, down one from the previous day. There are five or fewer COVID-19 patients in the care of Children’s Hospital.
The number of hospital staff who have contracted the virus has gone down by 16 over the past 24 hours to 192.
Outbreaks remain on five units at Victoria and University hospitals.
Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for Elgin and Oxford counties, no longer updates its COVID-19 cases dashboard on Thursdays. Its next update will be released on Friday.
Provincially, there was a decline in hospitalizations and ICU admissions.
The latest figures released by the province on Thursday show there are 2,797 people with COVID-19 admitted to hospitals in Ontario. That is down 142 since Wednesday. Of the COVID-19 positive people in hospital, roughly 56 per cent were admitted because of the virus, while around 44 per cent were initially brought in for some other reason and tested positive for COVID-19.
There are 541 people in intensive care units across the province, down 14 from Wednesday. Eighty-three per cent of the 541 patients in ICU are there because of the virus.
Public health officials said there were 4,098 new cases in Ontario on Thursday. Public health officials cautioned those numbers are considered an underestimate of the spread of the virus though, as eligibility for free PCR tests in Ontario have been extremely limited.
The province’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 1,043,923.
Seventy-five additional deaths related to the virus were reported on Thursday, to bring the death toll up to 11,651. The province noted 74 of the deaths occurred over the past 23 days and one death occurred more than a month ago.
The number of resolved cases rose by 5,901 to 992,616.
In the last 24 hour period, 28,493 tests COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now around 13.2 per cent, down from 14.1 per cent a week ago.
The province has administered 30,832,550 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of Wednesday night. About 92 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received one dose of the vaccine, while 89.3 per cent have been given a second dose. Over 6.4 million booster shots have been administered.
