The double-digit daily increase of COVID-19 cases continued in London and Middlesex County for a sixth straight day.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported 14 more confirmed cases on Wednesday. That is up from 11 Tuesday and brings the region's new case count since Sunday to 82.
A new COVID-19 outbreak has been confirmed on the general medicine unit at University Hospital in London. The unit is now closed to new patient admissions and visitors. Staff on that unit are also now not allowed to work in other areas of the hospital. Henley Place LTC Residence remains the lone local long-term care or retirement facility with an ongoing outbreak.
Four more cases and one presumptive case were identified late Tuesday at four London-area schools. The Thames Valley District school board reported infections linked to Northdale Public in Woodstock and Eagle Heights Public in London. There is also a presumptive case at Straffordville Public in Elgin County. The London District Catholic school board said there is a case at Catholic Central High in London. All of the affected schools remain open.
Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a total of 1,291 COVID-19 cases in the region. Of those, 1,099 have been resolved and there have been 63 deaths. That leaves 129 cases listed as active.
Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for Oxford and Elgin counties, also saw a double-digit jump in cases Wednesday. There were 15 additional infections reported in the area over the past 24 hours. That brings the case count up to 401. Six more people recovered from the virus to bring the total number of resolved cases to 357. There has not been a COVID-19 related death in the region since July. Currently, there are 39 active cases, 15 of which are in Woodstock.
New COVID-19 cases in Ontario rose to a new record high on Wednesday.
The province logged another 1,426 infections, smashing the previous daily record high of 1,388 cases on Tuesday.
The significant jump in infections puts the seven day average of daily cases to 1,216, the highest it has been so far during the pandemic.
Peel Region surpassed Toronto for the most new cases in the province with 468. Toronto had 384, York recorded 180, while Durham and Hamilton have just over 60.
Ontario's total number of cases now stands at 88,209.
Fifteen more people died from the virus across the province, increasing the death toll to 3,275. That puts the seven-day average number of deaths at 13 a day.
Public health officials said 886 more people recovered from the virus, bringing the resolved case total to 74,303.
The number of active cases of the novel coronavirus in Ontario is currently 10,631. Of those, 424 are in hospital - 88 in the intensive care unit and 57 on ventilators to assist with breathing.
In the last 24 hour period, more than 36,700 COVID-19 tests were processed. More than 34,000 tests remain in the backlog.
