Two men, one in his 50s, the other in his 60s, have become the latest two people to die from COVID-19 in the London region.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported the deaths, which are not linked to a long-term care or a retirement home, on Friday. Neither man had received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Until now, there had not been a COVID-19 related death in the region in 14 days. The last death linked to the virus locally was recorded on July 15.
The total death toll from the pandemic in London and Middlesex County now stands at 231.
Ten new COVID-19 cases were logged on Friday in the region. It is the second straight day the daily case count has been in the double-digits. On Thursday, 12 new infections were reported. Double-digit single-day case increases have been low this month, with only seven days where the number exceeded nine.
The local total number of cases since the pandemic began is now 12,776.
Recoveries are up by eight to bring the total number of resolved cases to 12,490. There are currently 54 active cases in the city and county.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has six COVID-19 inpatients in its care, down one from Thursday. Of those, fewer than five are listed in intensive care. Currently, fewer than five hospital staff have tested positive for the virus. An outbreak remains at Victoria Hospital’s adult inpatient mental health unit, but no new cases have been associated with it.
The number of cases involving variants of concern identified in the area was up 18 to 3,612. There have been 3,380 cases involving the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant that originated in the U.K., 116 cases of the P.1 (Gamma) variant from Brazil, two cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) variant from South Africa, and 110 cases of the B.1.617 (Delta) variant, originally found in India.
In a continued effort to make the COVID-19 vaccine easy to get, the health unit is holding a pop up, walk-in vaccination clinic in Victoria park Friday and Saturday. The two-day pop-up coincides with London Ribfest which is expected to draw large numbers to the downtown park over the long weekend. Vaccinators will be set-up at the corner of Wellington Street and Dufferin Avenue, near the Cenotaph from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there were four new COVID-19 cases reported Friday. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said that brings the local total number of cases to 3,950 with 3,846 resolved. The death toll was unchanged at 84. Currently, there are 20 active cases in the two counties. As of Thursday, 78.8 per cent of area residents aged 12 and older have had one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 62.9 per cent have received both doses.
For the second straight day, the number of new COVID-19 cases across the province was above 200.
Public health officials confirmed 226 new infections on Friday, up from 218 on Thursday. There were 158 cases logged on Wednesday, 127 recorded on Tuesday, and 119 reported on Monday. The climb back above the 200 mark comes after three weeks of daily case numbers below that level.
Toronto had the province’s highest daily number of cases over the past 24 hours with 62, followed by Waterloo Region with 35, and Peel Region with 24.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 550,178.
There have been another 28 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 145,536. Cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) variant are up by one to bring the total to 1,493 and P.1 (Gamma) variants were unchanged to leave the total at 5,161. The number of new cases involving the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant is up by 144 for a total of 4,565.
There were 11 additional deaths reported to bring the provincial death toll up to 9,339.
Hospitalizations in Ontario are down by 13 with 108 COVID-19 positive patients admitted. There are 117 patients in intensive care and 77 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 are up to 148 to 539,348. There are currently 1,491 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 20,993 COVID-19 tests were processed, up slightly from 19,425 the previous day. Ontario’s current positivity rate remains at 1.1 per cent.
To date, the province has administered 19.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with nearly 9 million people having received both shots required to be fully inoculated. Those numbers mean Ontario has now cleared one of the hurdles needed to move to a complete economic reopening.
Health Minister Christine Elliott announced on Thursday 80 per cent of eligible Ontarians have now received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, which is one of the benchmarks needed to exit Step 3 and return to normal life.
The province still needs to have 75 per cent of the population aged 12 and older fully vaccinated and no public health units can have a vaccination rate under 70 per cent. Hospital capacity and case counts must also be stable. Once out of Step 3, the vast majority of public health measures, including capacity limits, will be lifted. Only a small number of measures will remain in place, including the requirement for passive screening, such as posting a sign, and businesses requiring a safety plan. Face coverings will also still be required in indoor public settings.