There were four additional COVID-19 deaths reported in London and Middlesex County on Monday, but the number of new COVID-19 cases fell below 50 for the first time this year.
The Middlesex London Heath Unit reported the four latest deaths included one man in his 80s and two women, one in her 80s and other in her 90s, who all lived in long-term care. The fourth death involved a man in his 60s who was not linked to an assisted living facility.
The region's death toll has now risen to 152, with 50 of those deaths recorded in January alone.
Public health officials logged just 48 new COVID-19 cases Monday, a significant drop compared to the 143 infections reported on Monday of last week. Daily COVID-19 cases have been in the double digits for two straight days now, with 54 new cases confirmed on Sunday.
"We're by no means back to where we want to be, but progress still deserves to be recognized," London Mayor Ed Holder tweeted. "Over the last five days, #LdnOnt-Middlesex has averaged 75 #COVID19 cases per day. During the previous five day stretch, our average was 118. Please, let's continue making safe choices."
The total number of cases in the London-area since the start of the pandemic is 5,083.
Outbreaks remain on two units at Victoria Hospital and in the adult emergency department at University Hospital. Fewer than five patients and staff members have been infected on each of the two units at Victoria, while seven employees and no patients have contracted the virus at University. There are no deaths associated with the outbreaks at either hospital. The London Health Sciences Centre, which operated the two hospitals, has started the week with 29 inpatients with COVID-19, ten of whom are listed in the intensive care unit. Twenty-seven staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.
There are 15 local long-term care and retirement facilities dealing with outbreaks. No area schools or daycares currently have outbreaks.
Recoveries were up by 67 from Sunday to 3,485. That leaves 1,446 active COVID-19 cases.
Southwestern Public Health had another three deaths and 28 new cases on Monday. The health unit for Elgin and Oxford counties said the latest numbers bring its total case count to 2,068 and its death toll to 45. The number of deaths at Maple Manor, a Tillsonburg long-term care home hit hard by COVID-19, now stands at 17. There are 81 residents and 51 staff members at the home infected with the virus. Resolves cases in the region have increased to 1,641, leaving 382 cases active.
Provincially, the number of new COVID-19 cases dropped to a level not seen since the start of 2021.
There were 2,578 infections logged across the province on Monday, down from 3,422 the previous day. Daily cases have not been this low since January 1 when 2,476 new cases were reported.
Toronto had the highest number of new infections of any city in the province with 815. Peel recorded 507, York Region had 151, Niagara reported 151, and Hamilton had 121.
Ontario’s total case count now sits at 240,364.
Twenty-four deaths were reported Monday. The province’s death toll is now 5,433.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are 1,571 patients with COVID-19. Of those, 394 are in intensive care and 303 are on ventilators. This is the first time the number of COVID-19 patients relying on machines to breathe has risen above 300.
The number of resolved cases rose to 206,310. There are currently 28,621 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 40,301 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is roughly 6.6 per cent.
