The London region surpassed 10,000 total COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the same day it recorded the death of a middle-aged woman.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported 71 new infections on Tuesday, down from 100 the previous day. The latest single-day numbers bring the area's total case count since the pandemic began to 10,063.
Since entering the variant-fueled third wave in mid-March, the region has seen 17 days with daily infection counts above 100 and 12 deaths. The latest person to succumb to COVID-19 locally was a woman in her 50s. Her death was reported by the health unit on Tuesday and brings the area death toll to 197.
Another seven cases have been identified as variants of concern for a total of 1,568. All but two of the variants of concern have been confirmed to be the B.1.1.7 variant, which originated in the U.K. There are 256 that have tested positive for a mutation.
There were 151 recoveries logged over the past 24 hours to bring the total number of resolved cases to 8,981. Currently, there are 885 active cases in the city and county.
Outbreaks remain at six schools, two daycare centres, and seven Western University residences.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has 95 patients with COVID-19 in its care, 38 of whom are listed in intensive care. The hospital has been taking COVID-19 patient transfers from harder hit regions of the province. As such, it is not clear how many of those in the care of the LHSC are from the London-area.
As of Sunday, there have been 148,325 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered to residents in the region.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there was a drop in the number of new infections reported on Tuesday. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said there were 20 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, down from 65 Monday. That brings the total caseload since last spring to 3,360. The death toll is unchanged at 76. Resolved cases rose to 3,314 with 150 known active cases in the two counties remaining. Roughly 20 per cent of area residents have had one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while two per cent have received both doses. Adults 45 and older living in the Aylmer area identified by postal code N5H are now able to book an appointment to get the COVID-19 vaccine at mass vaccination clinics. The province announced the expanded vaccine eligibility to people in hotspots on Tuesday. Proof of age and residence is required. Appointments can be booked online at www.covidvaccinelm.ca or by phone at 226-289-3560 from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily.
Ontario’s daily case count has decreased for the fourth straight day.
Public health officials logged 3,265 new infections across the province on Tuesday. That’s down from 3,510 on Monday, 3,947 on Sunday, and 4,094 on Saturday.
Toronto had the province’s highest daily number of cases with 1,044, that was followed by Peel with 673, York Region with 452, Durham with 171, and Ottawa with 150.
Ontario's total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 452,126.
The province has confirmed 2,937 more cases of the variant first discovered in the U.K., known as B.1.1.7, for a total of 57,423. The number of cases of the variant first associated with South Africa, known as B.1.351. is up 37 to 199. There number of cases involving the variant first found in Brazil, known as P.1. rose by 20 cases to 371. The epidemiologic summary currently does not list data surrounding the B.1.617 variant, originally found in India. On Friday, provincial officials confirmed 36 cases involving the strain had been found in Ontario.
There were 29 additional deaths reported over the past 24 hours. The provincial death toll is now 7,964.
There are currently 2,336 people with COVID-19 being treated at Ontario hospitals, an increase of 65 since Monday. COVID-19 related admissions to the intensive care unit are down by two to 875 and there are 589 patients on ventilators.
The number of resolved cases rose to 404,248. There are currently 39,914 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 34,000 COVID -19 tests were processed. That is down from 33,800 the previous day and brings the province positivity rate to 10.2 per cent.
To date, the province has administered 4,791,030 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 362,563 people having received both shots required to be fully inoculated.
