The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in the London region on Wednesday was nearly double what was recorded a day earlier.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged 140 new infections on Wednesday, a significant jump from the 71 cases reported on Tuesday. It is the highest single-day case count in the area since April 15 when 151 cases were confirmed.
Since the pandemic began there has been a total of 10,202 cases in London and Middlesex County.
The death toll is unchanged at 197, while resolved cases rose by 85 for a total of 9,066. There are now 939 active cases in the in the region.
There were two more cases involving variants of concern locally, for a total of 1,570. Of those, 1,568 were identified as the B.1.1.7 from the U.K. and two were the P.1. variant from Brazil. The health unit also noted 264 cases have tested positive for a mutation.
Hospitalizations in the area have dropped slightly people with two fewer COVID-19 patients admitted to the London Health Sciences Centre. There are now 93 COVID positive patients in the hospital's care, 40 in the intensive care unit. Six hospital employees are positive for the virus.
Active outbreaks remain at five local schools, two child care centres, and six Western University residences.
The health unit said there have been more than 150,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in the region since Tuesday. COVID-19 vaccine eligibility is also now being expanded in the city and county to include child care employees working in licensed day care centres. As of Thursday, eligible child care workers can begin booking appointments online at www.covidvaccinelm.ca or by calling 226-289-3560 daily between 8 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Southwestern Public Health recorded 13 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. That is down from 20 new infections the previous day. The latest cases puts Elgin and Oxford counties’ total up to 3,373. There were no additional COVID-19 related deaths reported in the region, leaving the death toll at 76. Resolved cases rose to 3,156. There are now 141 active cases locally. The outbreak at Caressant Care Bonnie Place in St. Thomas has been declared over. There are now zero seniors’ facilities in the region dealing with outbreaks of the virus.
There was a slight bump in the single-day case numbers in Ontario ending a four day stretch of daily declines.
According public health officials, 3,480 new infections were confirmed on Wednesday. That is up from Tuesday’s 3,265 cases. Infections recorded on Monday and Sunday were 3,510 and 3,947.
Regions with the highest new case counts continue to be Toronto with 961 and Peel with 589. That is followed by Niagara with 341 and York Region with 290.
The Ministry of Health did note the daily case count from some health units in the Central West Region, including Niagara and Hamilton, were higher on Wednesday due to a "data catch-up process."
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 455,606.
The daily epidemiologic summary indicates Ontario found 2,932 more lab confirmed cases over the past 24 hours of the B.1.1.7. variant. There are now a total of 60,355 cases of that strain, which was first discovered in the U.K. Another 34 cases of the P.1. variant has been confirmed for a total of 405 and there were 21 more cases of the B.1.351 variant for a total of 220 in Ontario. The province has not indicated where there has been any more cases involving the B.1.617 variant, originally found in India, other than the 36 identified last Friday.
Twenty-four more deaths were reported over the past 24 hours to bring the province’s death toll to 7,988.
Hospitalizations in the province remain high with 2,281 COVID-19 positive patients admitted, down 55 from the previous day. Of those in hospital, there are 877 in intensive care and 605 on ventilators. Health Minister Christine Elliott and Ontario Health CEO Matt Anderson announced on Wednesday the province will begin moving patients to long-term care and retirement homes without their consent in order to free up hospital beds. A doctor will have to sign off on the transfer before a patient can be moved.
Resolved cases across the province are up to 408,765. That leaves 38,853 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 50,194 COVID-19 tests were processed, up from 34,000 on Tuesday. Ontario’s positivity rate has dropped to 7.2 per cent from 10.2 per cent.
The province has administered 4,907,203 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday night. A total of 365,166 people in Ontario have received their second dose of the vaccine and are considered fully inoculated.