For the third straight day, there have been four COVID-19 deaths in London and Middlesex County.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported Wednesday a woman in her 80s, a man in his 70s, a man in his 80s, and a man in his 90s have succumbed to the virus. All four were residents of long-term care homes. Since Monday, COVID-19 had claimed the lives of ten people living in local long-term care facilities.
The region's death toll is now up to 160, with 58 this month alone.
Daily COVID-19 cases in Middlesex London are back above 50 for the second consecutive day. The health unit logged 86 new infections over the last 24 hours. That is up from 68 Tuesday and 48 on Monday. It puts the region's seven-day average at 75 cases per day.
The total number of cases in the city and county since the pandemic began is 5,233.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has 23 inpatients with COVID-19, with ten of them listed in intensive care. There are 27 staff members who have tested positive for the virus. Outbreaks remain on three units within the LHSC - two at Victoria Hospital and one at University Hospital. Fewer than five staff and fewer than five patients have contracted the virus on the two affected units at Victoria Hospital. Eight employees and zero patients have been infected in the University Hospital outbreak. There are no deaths linked to the three outbreaks.
There are 16 area long-term care or retirement facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks, the latest of which is Peoplecare Oak Crossing.
Recoveries are up by 30 to 3,559, leaving 1,514 active cases in Middlesex London.
Southwestern Public Health, which covers Elgin and Oxford counties, had 14 new cases on Wednesday, down from 31 the previous day. The latest cases include three residents at Maple Manor Nursing Home in Tillsonburg, which has been dealing with a massive outbreak since December 12. To date, 85 residents and 52 staff members who have tested positive at the facility. The total case count is now 2,113. There was one additional death in the region, increasing the death toll to 48. The number of resolved cases rose to 1,773. Currently, there are 292 active cases.
Provincially, 2,655 COVID-19 infections were recorded Wednesday bringing Ontario’s total number of cases since the pandemic began to 244,932.
The jump back above the 2,000 mark comes a day after 1,913 cases were reported. That dip was attributed to a technical issue at Toronto Public Health which caused an "underreporting of cases,” according to Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott.
Areas with the latest triple digit increases include Toronto (925), Peel (473), York Region (226), Windsor-Essex (179), and Niagara (129).
The number of people in hospital across the province suffering from the virus remains high. As of Wednesday, 1,598 Ontarians are being treated in hospital. Of those, 395 are in intensive care and 296 are on ventilators.
Eighty-nine additional deaths were recorded over the past 24 hours, 42 of which were residents of long-term care homes. Ontario’s death toll is now 5,568.
The number of resolved cases rose to 212,897.
In the last 24 hour period, 54,307 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate has now dropped to 4.6 per cent.
Doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have made it into the arms of 237,918 people in the province as of Tuesday night.