London and Middlesex County saw another rise in new COVID-19 cases Wednesday.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported nine new infections over the past 24 hours. That is a sharp increase from one new case on Tuesday. None of the new cases are linked to local long-term care or retirement facilities which continue to deal with outbreaks. Currently, there are ongoing outbreaks at Ashwood Manor Retirement Home, Country Terrace, Meadow Park Care Centre, and Peoplecare Oak Crossing.
The region's total number of COVID-19 cases stands at 874, with 85 active.
According to public health officials, 18 people previously diagnosed with the virus have recovered. That brings the area's number of resolved cases to 732.
There has been no deaths related to COVID-19 in London or Middlesex since June 12, leaving the death toll unchanged at 57.
London's two assessment centres continue to be overwhelmed by those seeking tests. There were reports Wednesday that the lineup outside of the Oakridge assessment centre was more than one kilometre long by 5 a.m. Both testing sites have reached capacity early each day for the past few weeks.
Three London pharmacies began offering free testing for asymptomatic people Tuesday. A mobile swabbing unit operated by the Middlesex-London Paramedic Service is travelling between different communities in Middlesex for the next two weeks. It is at the Dorchester FlightExec Centre until 4 p.m. Wednesday and will move to the Lucan Community Centre Thursday.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there were two new infections confirmed on Wednesday. That brings the area's case count to 268. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit which oversees the two counties, reported two people have recovered from the virus to increase the total resolved cases to 257. Five people in the two counties have died from COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak, with no additional deaths reported since July 3.
Currently, there are six active cases in the region.
Ontario recorded another 625 new cases on Wednesday, up from 554 a day earlier.
The increase comes as the provincial government released new modelling data that indicates Ontario could reach 1,000 new infections a day by mid-October. Cases in the province are said to doubling every 10 to 12 days.
Many of Wednesday's new cases were in Toronto where 288 people tested positive. Another 97 are in Peel, 64 in Ottawa and 41 are in York Region.
Ontario's total number of cases is 51,710.
Four more people died from the virus over the past 24 hours to increase the death toll to 2,848.
The number of resolved cases rose to 43,907 with 457 recoveries reported Wednesday.
There was a slight increase in the number of COVID-19 infected patients in hospitals across the province with 150 people admitted. Of those, 35 are in the intensive care unit and 17 are relying on ventilators to breathe.
In the last 24 hour period, 35,753 additional COVID-19 tests were conducted in Ontario.
