The Windsor Essex County Health Unit reported 25 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday morning and identified another case involving a variant in the community.
Labs have confirmed two cases of the B.1.617 variant, originally identified in India, have been found in Windsor-Essex. Both of the cases identified as the B.1.617 variant are linked to travel outside of Canada.
To date, there have been four variant strains identified in the region. The majority of cases involving variants have been identified as the B.1.1.7 variant, originally identified in the U.K.
There are currently 223 active cases in Windsor-Essex and 134 of them involve a variant of concern.
The health unit is currently monitoring nine active outbreaks, eight of which have been linked to workplaces while the other is at the Southwest Detention Centre.
Windsor Regional Hospital is currently treating 22 patients in the hospital for COVID-19 and half of those are in the ICU. Of those patients, 14 are from Windsor-Essex and the rest have been transferred from other regions.
