The London region has reached a grim milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the latest figures released Tuesday by the Middlesex London Health Unit, the total number of people in the city and county to succumb to the virus since it arrived in March 2020 has surpassed 500.
Six additional deaths were recorded over the past week. Two women in their 80s and four people in their 90s are the latest to die from COVID-19. Half of those individuals were connected to a long-term care home, while the other half were not, the health unit said. The local death toll since the pandemic began now stands at 504. This year alone there have been 246 deaths in the region attributed to the virus.
Another 170 new cases were recorded in the area since last Tuesday. The health unit only updates its COVID-19 dashboard once a week and daily case tallies are believed to be an underestimate of community spread since the provincial government limited eligibility for PCR testing at the end of last December. The total number of confirmed cases locally since March 2020 is now 46,483, the health unit reports.
Currently, there are 339 known active cases in the region, up 17 since last week.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) confirmed it currently has 42 inpatients with COVID-19 in its care, unchanged from last Tuesday.
Of those currently hospitalized, only six are being treated for COVID-19. The remaining 36 are being treated for other ailments but have also tested positive.
There are currently five or fewer COVID infected patients listed in the intensive care unit. Children’s Hospital has five or fewer inpatients with the virus, however, none are listed in paediatric critical care.
The number of hospital employees who have contracted COVID-19 has gone down slightly. The LHSC said it has 46 infected staffers, a decrease of two since last week.
The LHSC currently has zero COVID-19 outbreaks at its hospitals.
