File photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / IvonneWierinkFile photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / IvonneWierink
Chatham

Jump in new COVID-19 cases, new outbreak identified in Chatham-Kent

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 cases in Chatham-Kent is still low, but the local public health unit is reporting a surge in new cases from the weekend.

The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit (CKPHU) added 39 new COVID-19 cases to the area's total in its latest report Monday morning -- all of those came in over the weekend. The number of new cases was offset by 13 more resolved cases, so Chatham-Kent now has 83 active cases.

Four of those active cases are hospitalized -- up by one compared to Friday's report.

The CKPHU's data shows that 95.7 per cent of the local cases that have been reported so far were never hospitalized and 3.3 per cent were hospitalized but not in the ICU. The remaining 1 percent (31 of the 2,967 total reported cases) did have to receive care in the ICU.

The public health unit also added another active outbreak to its list Monday, so there are now eight active COVID-19 outbreaks in the municipality.

The latest outbreak was declared on November 26 at an undisclosed "place of worship" and involves five cases.

Four schools, one long-term care facility, one workplace, and a second place of worship round out the other ongoing outbreaks in the municipality.

No new COVID-19 related deaths were reported in Chatham-Kent on Monday. The CKPHU said so far, 24 Chatham-Kent residents -- making up 0.81 per cent of reported cases locally -- have died from COVID-19.

Across the province, Ontario reported 788 new cases Monday along with three more virus-related deaths.

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