There has been another COVID-19 death in the London region, the first in nearly a week.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported on Friday a man in his 30s had succumbed to the virus. Public health officials have released no other details about the man, other than to state he was not associated with any seniors’ facilities. He is among the youngest in the area to die after contracting COVID-19. Last month, an 18-year-old and a 24-year-old died due to the virus. A 19-year-old long-term care home worker died after testing positive in January.
The latest death is the third this month and brings the local death toll to 222.
Another 12 new COVID-19 cases were also logged on Friday. That is down from the previous day’s 22 new infections. The region’s total case count since the pandemic began is now 12,412.
The number of resolved cases rose by 11 since Thursday for a total of 12,087. There are currently 105 known active cases in the region, down from 174 a week ago.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has a total of 15 COVID-19 inpatients. Of those, seven are listed in intensive care. There were fewer than five out of region patients in acute care and intensive care.
The number of cases involving variants of concern identified in the area has risen by 46 to 3,246. There have been 3,158 cases involving the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant that originated in the U.K., 83 cases of the P.1 (Gamma) variant from Brazil, including one sublineage, two cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) variant from South Africa, and three cases of the B.1.617 (Delta) variant, originally found in India.
The health unit is working to hire more staff to ramp up capacity at its immunization clinics. The call for more clinical supervisors, vaccinators, registered nurses, and administrative staff was put out on Thursday. About 4,000 doses of the vaccine are currently administered at the region's four mass vaccination sites a day, but the hope is to increase that to 7,000 per day. The added staff would also provide coverage of summer vacations. As of last Saturday, 316,831 doses of the vaccine had been administered in Middlesex-London. Nearly 67.5 per cent of the adult population has received their first dose, but only about 5.1 per cent have received two doses.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, the number of new cases rose slightly following a one day drop. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said there were four new COVID-19 infections recorded Friday. That is up from one on Thursday. The region’s total number of cases is now 3,825 with 3,721 resolved. The death toll was unchanged at 83. Currently, there are 21 active cases in the two counties. As of last Saturday, 56 per cent of local residents have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 4.5 per cent have been given both doses.
As the province entered Stage 1 of its economic reopening plan on Friday it again logged more than 500 new COVID-19 cases.
Public health officials confirmed 574 new infections across the province on Friday, the second straight day above 500. There were 590 cases reported on Thursday. Prior to that, Ontario had 411 and 469 new infections Wednesday and Tuesday.
Toronto had the province’s highest daily number of cases over the past 24 hours with 109, followed by Peel with 84, and Waterloo with 79.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 538,651.
Pandemic restrictions loosened across the province as of midnight Friday. Under Stage 1 of Ontario's reopening plan restaurant and pub patios and non-essential retailers were allowed to reopen and gyms can hold outdoor fitness classes. The cap on social gatherings outdoors was also increased from five people to ten.
There have been another 1,190 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, now known as “Alpha,” to 137,307. Cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) variant held steady with 1,128 total and P.1 (Gamma) variants are up by 25 for a total 4,098.
There were four additional deaths reported over the past 24 hours. The provincial death toll is now 8,935.
Hospitalizations in Ontario are down with 489 COVID-19 positive patients admitted. Of those, 366 are in intensive care and 292 are on ventilators.
The number of resolved cases rose to 523,532. There are currently 6,184 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 28,949 COVID-19 tests were processed, down from 31,423 the previous day. Ontario’s current positivity rate is around 2 per cent.
To date, the province has administered 10,827,420 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with more than 1.5 million people having received both shots required to be fully inoculated.