For only the third time this month, London and Middlesex County recorded a double-digit increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases.
Ten more infections were reported Friday by the Middlesex London Health Unit. The only other days this month to see daily case counts rise above nine were July 2 with 13 cases and July 14 with 12 cases. The return to double-digits came on the same day Ontario entered Step 3 of its economic reopening plan. The further loosened restrictions allow restaurants, gyms, and theatres to resume indoor operation. Limits on social gatherings have also increased to 25 people indoors and 100 people outdoors.
The region's total caseload since the pandemic began is now 12,679.
No additional deaths were recorded Friday, leaving the local death toll at 229.
The number of resolved cases rose to 12,384. There are 66 known active cases in the region, the second straight week that number has remained above 50.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has a total of nine COVID-19 inpatients, unchanged from Thursday. Of those, fewer than five are listed in intensive care. Currently, under five hospital staff have tested positive for the virus.
The number of cases involving variants of concern identified in the area went up by one to 3,532. There have been 3,369 cases involving the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant that originated in the U.K., 99 cases of the P.1 (Gamma) variant from Brazil, two cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) variant from South Africa, and 58 cases of the B.1.617 (Delta) variant, originally found in India.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, the number of new cases reported on Friday was two. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said the local total number of cases is now 3,915 with 3,822 resolved. The death toll was unchanged at 84. Currently, there are nine active cases in the two counties.
The number of new COVID-19 cases across the province continued to be below 200 on Friday.
Public health officials confirmed 159 new infections on Friday, up from 143 on Thursday. There were 153 logged on Wednesday, 146 recorded on Tuesday, and 114 reported on Monday. Ontario has now seen eight consecutive days with daily case counts below 200.
Grey Bruce had the province’s highest daily number of cases over the past 24 hours with 34, followed by Waterloo with 25, and Toronto with 23.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 547,864.
There have been another 19 new cases of the variant originating from the U.K. in Ontario. That brings the province’s total number of B.1.1.7. (Alpha) cases to 144,781. Cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) variant are unchanged leaving the total at 1,465 and P.1 (Gamma) variants are up by one to 4,950. The number of new cases involving the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant is up by 14 for a total of 3,150.
There were ten additional deaths reported to bring the provincial death toll up to 9,285.
Hospitalizations in Ontario are down by six with 159 COVID-19 positive patients admitted. There are 158 patients in intensive care and 112 are on ventilators. ICU numbers include patients who previously tested positive for COVID-19 but have since recovered and remain due to other complications.
The number of resolved cases now stands at 537,176. There are currently 1,403 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 28,126 COVID-19 tests were processed, down from more than 31,300 the previous day. Ontario’s current positivity rate remains low at 0.6 per cent.
To date, the province has administered 17,810,472 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with more than 7.5 million people having received both shots required to be fully inoculated.