For the first time in a week, daily COVID-19 cases in the London region have increased slightly.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported 39 new infections on Wednesday, up from just 19 the previous day. For six consecutive days prior to this, the number of cases logged daily had been on a downward trend, reaching lows not seen since early December. Since the start of the year, 2,193 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the London area for a total case count of 5,527.
There was one additional death reported on Wednesday. A woman in her 80s who resided in a long-term care home succumbed to the virus, the health unit said. Her death increases the local death toll to 173.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) continues to deal with an outbreak within the adult emergency department at University Hospital. To date, no patients have been infected, but ten staff members have contracted the virus. There are no deaths associated with the outbreak. The LHSC currently has 17 inpatients with COVID-19, four of them are in intensive care.
Resolved cases in the area have gone up to 3,764, with 17 more recoveries over the past 24 hours. Currently, there are 1,590 active cases in London and Middlesex Centre.
The health unit is only able to release limited COVID-19 figures until Friday as it transitions to a new data platform. Until now, the health unit had relied on an internal case and contact management tool to collect local data about COVID-19. Figures from that system were then used to populate the region's daily COVID-19 dashboard with a summary of cases and outbreaks.
The new system, called Salesforce, will sync the London region's data with the province's.
“We know that it is important that we continue to share the latest information about COVID-19 with the residents of London and Middlesex County,” Medical Officer of Health Dr. Chris Mackie said in a statement. “With the transition to Salesforce, the health unit will align both its data and its reporting with the province.”
The Salesforce platform will also allow the health unit to provide virtual notifications to those diagnosed with COVID-19 for the first time. Those infected can receive a text message to notify them of their test results, provide information about self-isolating, and collect information about their symptoms and close contacts. This is something the health unit said would expedite its contact tracing efforts.
In Elgin and Oxford, there were just six new COVID-19 infections recorded over the last 24 hours. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the two counties, said the latest cases bring the total case count to 2,240. The death toll is unchanged at 55, with zero additional deaths reported Monday. There are 12 area long-term care or retirement homes dealing with cases of the virus. The facility with the highest number of cases continues to be Maple Manor Nursing Home in Tillsonburg where 85 residents and 52 staff members have tested positive. Twenty deaths are linked to the outbreak at the home.
The region’s resolved cases rose to 2,001 on Monday, leaving 184 active cases.
Ontario logged its lowest number of new daily COVID-19 cases since late November.
Public health officials said Wednesday another 1,670 new infections were recorded across the province. That is down from 1,740 on Tuesday. The last time daily cases were this low was on November 26 when 1,478 infections were reported.
The regions with the highest number of new cases Wednesday include Toronto with 450, Peel with 342, York Region with 171, and Niagara with 128.
Ontario’s COVID-19 case total is now 260,370.
Forty-nine more people died from the virus across the province. The epidemiology report indicates 25 of those deaths involved people living in long-term care homes.
The COVID-19 death toll in Ontario is now 5,958.
Recoveries are up to 232,480, leaving 21,932 active cases.
The number of people hospitalized with the virus is currently 1,382. Of those, 377 are in the intensive care unit and 291 are on ventilators.
A total of 55,191 COVID-19 tests were processed over the last 24 hour period. The positivity rate among those tested sits at 4 per cent.
As of 8 p.m. Tuesday, 305,330 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have made it into the arms of Ontarians.
