The number of new COVID-19 cases in the London region rose back above 100 following three straight days of double-digit increases.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged 128 new infections on Wednesday, the 14th day this month of triple-digit case counts. The latest case total is up also up from 74 on Tuesday, 69 on Monday, and 85 on Sunday.
Since the start of the pandemic, the region has seen a total of 9,506 infections.
The death toll has been unchanged for the past two days at 19, while resolved cases rose by 114 for a total of 8,236. There are now 1,075 active cases in the city and county.
There were another 158 cases involving variants of concern locally, for a total of 1,327. Of those, 1,325 were identified as the B.1.1.7 from the U.K. and two were the P.1. variant from Brazil. The health unit also noted 214 case have tested positive for a mutation.
Hospitalizations in the region have reached another all-time high as eight more people with COVID-19 were admitted to the London Health Sciences Centre. There are now 94 COVID positive patients in the hospital's care, 29 in the intensive care unit. Nine hospital employees have tested positive for the virus.
Parkwood Institute Mental Health Care Building continues to deal with an active outbreak. As do seven area schools, including St. Andre Bessette Secondary, where an outbreak was declared on Tuesday. Western University has eight residences with active outbreaks. Fortunately, most students have moved out at this point.
Southwestern Public Health recorded 28 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. That is up from 12 new infections the previous day. The latest cases put Elgin and Oxford counties’ total up to 3,237. There was another COVID-19 related death reported in the region, which brings the death toll up to 74. Resolved cases rose to 2,975, leaving 188 active cases. The outbreak at Metcalfe Gardens in St. Thomas has been resolved, leaving Caressant Care Bonnie Place in St. Thomas as the only local seniors’ facility dealing with spread.
After a one day drop, daily case numbers in Ontario have surged back above 4,200.
According to public health officials, 4,212 new infections were confirmed on Wednesday. That is up from Tuesday’s 3,469 cases. Infections recorded on Monday and Sunday were 4,447 and 4,250.
Regions with the highest new case counts continue to be Toronto with 1,249 and Peel with 771. That is followed by York Region with 386, Hamilton with 276, and Durham with 214.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 429,123.
The daily epidemiologic summary indicates Ontario found 2,100 more lab confirmed cases over the past 24 hours of the B.1.1.7. variant. There are now a total of 41,395 cases of that strain, which was first discovered in the U.K. Another case of the P.1. variant has been confirmed for a total of 212 and there were three more cases of the B.1.351 variant for a total of 108 in Ontario.
Thirty-two more deaths were reported over the past 24 hours to bring the province’s death toll to 7,789.
Hospitalizations in the province remain high with 2,335 COVID-19 positive patients admitted, down 25 from the previous day. Of those in hospital, there is a record 790 in intensive care and 566 on ventilators.
Resolved cases across the province are up to 378,417. That leaves 42,917 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 51,877 COVID-19 tests were processed, up from 40,596 on Tuesday. Ontario’s positivity rate has dropped to 7.9 per cent from 10 per cent.
The province has administered 4,131,882 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday night. A total of 349,396 people in Ontario have received their second dose of the vaccine and are considered fully inoculated.
