A man in his 80s has become the latest person in the London region to succumb to COVID-19.
The Middlesex London Health Unit confirmed the man's death on Tuesday. His death is not associated with a long-term care home or retirement facility. His death is the first related to the virus to be reported locally since Friday and is the 12th virus-related death this month. It brings the death toll for London and Middlesex County up to 359.
There were 79 new COVID-19 infections logged in London and Middlesex County on Tuesday. Those cases bring the total case count since March 2020 to 33,822. Daily case tallies have been considered an underestimate of community spread because of limits placed on testing eligibility at the end of last year.
The health unit said there are 743 known active cases of the virus in the region, unchanged from Monday.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported a slight dip in the number of infected staff. There are 193 hospital workers who have tested positive for the virus, down two over the past 24 hours. The figure is still higher than the 167 infected employees confirmed the same day last week.
A technical issue prevented the hospital network from updating its inpatient and intensive care numbers on Tuesday. There were 27 inpatients and five or fewer ICU admissions with COVID-19 at the LHSC on Monday. Children’s Hospital had zero COVID-19 positive patients.
Local vaccination figures released Tuesday showed little change from last week. There are 93.6 per cent of area residents aged 12 and older who have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 91.6 per cent in the same age bracket have had two doses.
As of Saturday, there have been 1,116,470 doses administered locally since December 2020.
Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for Elgin and Oxford counties, does not update its COVID-19 cases dashboard on Tuesdays. Its next update will be released on Wednesday.
Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 jumped in Ontario on Tuesday.
According to public health officials, there are 790 COVID-19 positive inpatients being treated in hospitals across the province. That is up by 135 compared to figures released on Monday. At this time last week, there were 639 people hospitalized with the virus.
The provincial breakdown of hospitalization numbers shows roughly 47 per cent were admitted to hospital because of COVID-19. The remaining 53 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.
As of Tuesday, seven more COVID-19 positive people were admitted to intensive care for a total of 165.
Ontario logged 1,610 new cases Tuesday. However, the single-day tally is less relevant since the provincial government restricted eligibility for publicly-funded COVID-19 tests. Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 1,156,656.
There were nine additional deaths from the virus reported over the past 24 hours. Seven of those deaths occurred over the past month, while two occurred more than a month ago. The total death toll from the virus in Ontario now stands at 12,414.
Public health officials confirmed there were 12,302 COVID-19 tests processed over the past 24 hours. The test positivity rate is now 14.4 per cent, up from 12.2 per cent a week ago.
To date, the province has administered 32,046,288 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 90.9 per cent of people 12 and older having received two doses. More than 7.1 million people, or 55.5 per cent, have received a booster shot.
