For the third consecutive day, there was a double-digit increase in the number of new COVID-19 infections in London and Middlesex County.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported 16 new cases of the virus on Thursday. That is down slightly from the previous two days, which each saw 18 more confirmed cases. So far this month, there have only been eight days in which daily COVID-19 cases dropped below 10.
Six more London Health Sciences Centre employees have tested positive for COVID-19, while the number of infected patients in the hospital's care dropped from 27 to 23.
Outbreaks are ongoing on five units at University Hospital and one unit at Parkwood Institute. Two residences at Western University are also dealing with a continued outbreak.
The health unit used its social media channels on Thursday to urge Western and Fanshawe College students planning on returning home for the holidays to self-isolate for 14 days prior. In doing so, the health unit said students can avoid taking the virus home with them.
Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a total of 1,528 COVID-19 cases in London and Middlesex.
Fourteen more people have recovered from the virus over the last 24 hours, increasing the number of resolved cases to 1,323. The death toll remains unchanged at 64, with no new deaths linked to the virus since Monday.
Currently, there are 141 active cases in the region.
In Elgin and Oxford, nine new cases were reported Thursday. That brings the region’s case count up to 516. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit that oversees the two counties, recorded eight additional recoveries, bringing resolved cases up to 455. The death toll is unchanged at six. There are 55 active cases remaining.
Ontario logged nearly 1,500 new COVID-19 infections.
Public health officials said there were 1,478 new cases on Thursday, up from 1,373 on Wednesday.
Peel led the way with the most new infections of any other area in the province with 572. That was followed by Toronto with 356 and York Region with 111.
The total number of cases in the province has climbed to 109,361.
Twenty-one additional people died from the virus over the past 24 hours to increase the death toll to 3,575.
The number of resolved cases rose to 92,915 with 1,365 recoveries reported.
There are currently 556 COVID-19 infected patients in hospitals across the province. Of those, 151 are in the intensive care unit and 105 are relying on ventilators to breathe.
In the last 24 hour period, there were nearly 47,600 COVID-19 tests processed.