Two more COVID-19 deaths were recorded in the London-area on Friday, as the region's daily case count remained in the double-digits for a fifth straight day.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported a woman in her 80s and a man in his 50s succumbed to the virus on Friday. Neither was associated with a long-term care or retirement home. The deaths are the 11th and 12th this month and bring to an end a four-day stretch where no one succumbed to the virus locally.
London and Middlesex County's death toll now stands at 212.
There were another 65 new COVID-19 cases logged in the region on Friday. That is down from 80 on Thursday and 81 on Wednesday. Daily case numbers have been in the double-digits for five consecutive days now, after spending much of the previous month in the triple-digits. Roughly 40 of the 65 cases reported over the past 24 hours involved people under the age of 40.
The region has recorded a total of 11,492 cases since the pandemic began 15 months ago.
The number of recoveries rose by 79 since Thursday for a total of 10,489. There are currently 791 known active cases in the region, down from 914 a week ago.
Hospitalizations in the city and county fell by five on Friday to leave 63 COVID-19 positive patients in the care of the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). Of those, 28 are listed in the intensive care unit and 30 were transferred in from overwhelmed hospitals in COVID-19 hotspots.
The number of variants of concern identified in the area has risen by 92 to 2,415. There were 91 new cases involving the B.1.1.7 variant that originated in the U.K., bringing the total to 2,391 cases. One more case of the P.1 variant from Brazil was confirmed for a total of 21. Middlesex London has had a single case of the B.1.617 variant, originally found in India.
There are four ongoing outbreaks at area seniors' facilities - Dearness Home, Kensington Village, Kensington Village Retirement, and McGarrell Place. There is also an outbreak at a local child care centre.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there was a slight increase in the number of new cases. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said there were 24 new COVID-19 infections recorded Friday, up from 16 on Thursday. The region’s total number of cases is now 3,632 with 3,416 resolved. The death toll was unchanged at 78. Currently, there are 138 active cases in the two counties. Outbreaks remain at Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital and Caressant Care Nursing Home in Woodstock. As of last Saturday, 36.9 per cent of local residents have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 2.2 per cent have been given both doses.
The number of new COVID-19 cases in Ontario dropped below 2,400.
Public health officials confirmed 2,362 new infections across the province on Friday. That is down from 2,759 on Thursday. Daily case counts on Wednesday and Tuesday were 2,320 and 2,073.
Toronto had the province’s highest daily number of cases on Friday with 691, followed by Peel with 563, York Region with 224, Durham with 148, and Hamilton with 112.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 504,533.
There have been another 2,632 new cases of the variant originating from the U.K. in Ontario. That brings the province’s total number of B.1.1.7. cases to 103,864. Cases of the B.1.351 and P.1 variants are up by 20 and 19 for a total of 594 and 1,746.
There were 26 additional deaths reported over the past 24 hours. The provincial death toll is now 8,431.
Hospitalizations in Ontario are down a bit with 1,582 COVID-19 positive patients admitted. Of those, 777 are in intensive care and 560 are on ventilators.
The number of resolved cases rose to 468,033. There are currently 28,069 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 44,040 COVID-19 tests were processed, up from 47,638 the previous day. Ontario’s current positivity rate is 5.7 per cent.
To date, the province has administered 6,771,128 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 415,531 people having received both shots required to be fully inoculated.