While it won't be clear until Tuesday how many new COVID-19 cases there were in the London region over the weekend, infections in Elgin and Oxford counties steadily increased over the past three days.
Southwestern Public Health reported 63 new cases since the last time it provided a daily update last Thursday. That works out to roughly 21 new infections a day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It is up from last week when the highest single day case count was 18.
The region's total caseload since the start of the pandemic is now 2,898.
There has not been a COVID-19 related death in Oxford or Elgin in a week, leaving the death toll unchanged at 69.
Resolved cases rose to 2,714 and 115 remain active in the two counties.
An outbreak has been declared at Caressant Care Bonnie Place in St. Thomas. One resident and one staff member have tested positive for the virus. There are no death associated with this outbreak.
As of March 27, the first dose of the vaccine has made it into the arms of 13,697 residents in Elgin and Oxford. Just over 4,000 have received their second dose to be considered fully vaccinated.
The Middlesex London Health Unit did not update its COVID-19 numbers Sunday or Monday because of the Easter holiday. It will resume regular reporting on Tuesday. In the meantime, it has confirmed a sixth outbreak at a Western University residence. Fewer than five people have tested positive for COVID-19 at Essex Hall. This is the second time in less than a month an outbreak has been reported at this residence. Other on campus student quarters with active outbreaks at Western include Delaware Hall, Elgin Hall, Medway-Sydenham Hall, Ontario Hall, and Saugeen-Maitland Hall.
Provincially, the number of new cases neared 6,000 over the past two days.
Public health officials logged 2,938 new infections across the province Monday and 3,041 on Sunday. That comes after 3,009 infections were reported on Saturday, the first day of the province-wide shutdown.
Regions with the most new cases included Toronto with 906, Peel with 533, York Region with 391, Ottawa with 230, and Durham with 140.
According to the province’s daily epidemiologic summary, Ontario identified 1,600 variants of the virus over the last 24 hours for a total of 26,125. Of those, 2,135 have been confirmed as the U.K. variant, known as B.1.1.7., 71 cases are the South African variant, B.1.351, and 103 are the Brazil variant, P.1.
The province’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 364,537.
Twenty-two deaths were reported over the past two days - ten Saturday and 12 on Sunday. That increases the province’s death toll to 7,450.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are 942 patients with COVID-19. That includes, 494 in intensive care and 293 on ventilators.
The number of resolved cases rose to 331,600. There are currently 25,487 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, nearly 36,600 COVID-19 tests were processed, down from nearly 46,400 the day prior. Ontario’s current positivity rate has risen to 7.8 per cent, up from 6.5 on Sunday.
The province has administered 2,545,640 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine since Sunday night. There are 322,197 people in Ontario who have received their second dose of the vaccine to be considered fully inoculated.