The number of new COVID-19 cases in the London region dipped to its lowest level so far this month as local hospitalizations reached an all-time high.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged 69 new infections on Monday, down from 85 on Sunday and 133 on Saturday. It is only the sixth time this month daily cases numbers have been below 100.
Since the pandemic began, there has been a total of 9,305 cases in the city and county.
There was another COVID-19 related death in the area over the past 24 hours. Public health officials said a woman in her 60s, not associated with a long-term care or retirement facility, died after contracting the virus. Her death is the seventh COVID-19 death in April and brings the death toll to 195.
Hospitalizations in the region have soared to a height not previously seen throughout the pandemic. The London Health Sciences Centre said Monday it has 78 COVID-19 patients in its care - a record high. Of those, 36 are in the intensive care unit. There are also 12 hospital staff who have tested positive for the virus.
Nearly 200 more cases involving variants of concern have been identified in the region, for a total of 1,070. The B.1.1.7 variant, which originated in the U.K., now accounts for 1,068 of the cases, while there are two cases of the P.1. variant from Brazil. Another 197 have tested positive for a mutation.
Outbreaks continue at six local schools, the most recent of which were declared at École élémentaire catholique Frère-André and Mother Teresa Catholic secondary school, both in London, over the weekend. Students across the province return from their spring break on Monday, but not to in-person learning. Instead, they will be learning remotely full-time for the foreseeable future.
Western University has outbreaks at eight of its residences. The latest was confirmed Friday at London Hall Residence. An outbreak at Western affiliate King's University College's King's Commons residence was resolved on Sunday.
As of Sunday, there have been 125,000 COVID-19 vaccines administered throughout the region.
New cases in Elgin and Oxford counties rose by 57 on Monday. The number includes infections identified Saturday and Sunday, as Southwestern Public Health no longer updates its COVID-19 dashboard on weekends. The latest infections brings the two counties total case count to 3,197. The death toll was unchanged at 72. There are outbreaks at two seniors’ facilities in St. Thomas – Caressant Care Bonnie Place and Metcalfe Gardens. The health unit said the total number of resolved cases is 2,935, leaving 190 known active cases in the two counties.
Provincially, there were another 4,447 new infections reported as hospitalizations from the virus reached an all time high.
Public health officials said Monday's new cases are an increase from the 4,250 logged on Sunday and the 4,362 recorded on Saturday.
Regions with the most new cases were Toronto with 1,299, Peel with 926, York Region with 577, Ottawa with 233 and Hamilton with 227.
According to the province’s daily epidemiologic summary, Ontario identified 2,467 cases of the B.1.1.7. variant over the past 24 hours for a total of 26,579. Four more cases of the P.1 variant were found for a total of 211, while the number of new cases of the B.1.351 variant is unchanged at 104.
The province’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 421,442.
Nineteen deaths were reported over the past 24 hours, to increase the province’s death toll to 7,735.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are a record 2,202 patients with COVID-19. That includes an all time high 755 (an increase of 14 since Sunday) in intensive care and 516 on ventilators.
The number of resolved cases rose to 370,844. There are currently 42,863 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 42,873 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s current positivity rate has risen to 10.5 per cent. The only time it was higher was in April of last year when it soared to 17 per cent.
The province has administered 3,904,778 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of Sunday night. More than 346,005 people in Ontario have received their second dose of the vaccine to be considered fully inoculated.
The provincial government announced on Sunday it is expanding the eligibility of the AstraZeneca vaccine to include adults between the age of 40 and 54. As of Tuesday, anyone born in 1981 or earlier will be able to get the AstraZeneca shot at pharmacy and primary care settings across the province. Prior to this, the AstraZeneca vaccine had only been available to people 55 and older.