Following two days of relatively low COVID-19 numbers, new cases of the virus in London-Middlesex saw a sharp increase Thursday.
The Middlesex-London Health Unit reported 16 new cases over the last 24 hours. The double-digit rise comes after just one new infection was reported on Wednesday and two on Tuesday. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 1,127 cases of COVID-19 in the region.
"Despite today's spike, we had 10 more recoveries which means our total number of active, known cases stands at 63 -- up from 57 yesterday," Mayor Ed Holder tweeted.
There has not been a COVID-19 linked death in the city or country since Saturday, leaving the death toll unchanged at 60.
Only six outbreaks remain at local long-term care and retirement homes - Chartwell London, Chartwell Royalcliffe Retirement Residence, Craigwiel Gardens, Oakcrossing Retirement Living, Strathmere Lodge, and Westmount Gardens. A staffer at a retirement residence was among the new cases reported Thursday.
The number of patients being treated for COVID-19 at the London Health Sciences Centre has dropped back to five or less, after rising to six on Monday. It was the first time since early June the hospital had reported an increase in COVID-19 infected inpatients.
In Elgin and Oxford, the number of cases went up by five on Thursday. Southwestern Public Health, the region’s health unit, said the new infections bring the area case count up to 317. Three more people recovered from the virus to increase the number of resolved cases up to 295. There have been five COVID-19 related deaths in the region. Currently, 17 cases remain active.
Ontario's daily case count rose above the 900 mark on Thursday.
Public health officials said there were 936 new infections in the province, a significant increase from Wednesday's 834 cases.
The bulk of the new cases continue to be in four regions of the province previously marked as COVID-19 hotspots. They include Toronto with 420 new cases, Peel with 169, York with 95, and Ottawa with 58.
The total number of cases in the province has risen to 73,819.
Ten additional people died from the virus over the past 24 hours to increase the death toll to 3,118.
The number of resolved cases rose to 63,123 with 820 recoveries reported.
There are currently 322 COVID-19 infected patients in hospitals across the province. Of those, 77 are in the intensive care unit and 52 are relying on ventilators to breathe.
In the last 24 hour period, there were 35,621 COVID-19 tests conducted.