The Middlesex London Health Unit has recorded fewer than 20 new COVID-19 cases for only the second time this week.
The 18 new infections were logged on Friday and are a decrease from the 27 new cases Thursday, 30 cases Wednesday, and 22 cases Tuesday. The only other day to see less than 20 new cases was Monday, when just 13 new infections were reported. Daily case counts in London and Middlesex County have seen double-digit increases every day since August 11.
The city and county’s total caseload since the pandemic began now sits at 13,448.
The death of an unvaccinated woman in her 30s, first confirmed by local Medical Officer of Health Dr. Chris Mackie on Thursday, was officially added to the health unit's COVID-19 dashboard. The woman is one of two people who had not received either dose of the vaccine to die this week after contracting the virus. The other was a man in his 50s. His death was added to the official death told on Thursday. The total number of people to die from COVID-19 locally now stands at 235.
The number of resolved cases rose by 24 to 12,994. There are 219 known active cases in the region. Active cases have not fallen below 200 since August 20.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has eight COVID-19 inpatients in its care, down from ten on Thursday. Of those, five or fewer are listed in intensive care. Currently, there are five or fewer hospital staff who have tested positive for the virus.
The number of cases involving variants of concern identified in the area has gone up by 54 to 3,977. All of the 54 new cases have been confirmed to be the B.1.617 (Delta) variant to increase the area's total to 462. There are a total of 3,385 cases involving the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant, 124 cases of the P.1 (Gamma) variant, two cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) variant.
An outbreak at the Total Package Hockey Day Camp in London, first declared on August 20, has now been deemed over.
Roughly 84 per cent of the 473 new COVID-19 cases reported since July 23 were among people who were not yet fully vaccinated. The unvaccinated and those who have only received one dose accounted for 92.2 per cent of all hospitalizations locally over the last six weeks.
The health unit is now recommending all employers and businesses in the city and county implement a COVID-19 vaccination policy.
“The Delta variant continues to spread rapidly in our community, and in order to keep our schools and businesses safe and open, we need all workplaces and business operators in London and Middlesex County to implement mandatory vaccination policies,” said Mackie, “Now that vaccine certificates have been announced, all employers and organizations should plan for mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies to help keep everyone in their facilities safe.”
Fanshawe College announced Friday it will require everyone on its campuses to be fully vaccinated as of November 5. Western University has also put in place a similar policy. The London Health Sciences Centre is also already requiring its staff and contractors to have both doses.
Two of the health unit's four mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics close their doors Friday and Saturday. The closures will allow public health officials to shift focus to mobile, and pop-up walk-in sites. The clinic at Earl Nichols Recreation Centre shuts its doors at the end of business on Friday, while the North London Optimist Community Centre vaccination site's last day of operation is Saturday.
There are six pop-up, walk-in clinics planned in the region this long weekend, including two installments of "Doses Till Dark on Richmond Row." Health professionals will be administering the COVID-19 vaccine to those 12 and older in the parking lot at the corner of Richmond and Angel streets from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. A full list of pop-up vaccination clinics in London and Middlesex County can be found by clicking here.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there were eight new COVID-19 cases reported Friday, the same number as was recorded the previous day. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said that brings the local total number of cases to 4,098 with 3,980 resolved. The death toll was unchanged at 85. Currently, there are 33 active cases in the two counties. As of Thursday, 82 per cent of area residents aged 12 and older have had one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 75.7 per cent have received both doses.
Ontario recorded more than 800 new COVID-19 cases for a second straight day, as the number of fully vaccinated people in the province hit a new milestone.
Public health officials confirmed 807 new infections on Friday, down from the province's fourth wave high of 865 logged on Thursday. There were 656 new cases on Wednesday, 525 on Tuesday, and 694 on Monday.
Toronto had the province’s highest daily number of cases over the past 24 hours with 175, followed by Peel Region with 136, York Region with 85, and Windsor-Essex with 72.
Preliminary data shows of the 807 new cases reported in Ontario, 499 were not vaccinated, 68 had received one dose, and 179 were fully vaccinated. There were 60 infected individuals whose vaccination status was not known.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 567,878.
There have been three 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 146,428. Cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) variant and P.1 (Gamma) variant were unchanged leaving the totals at 1,501 and 5,222. The number of new cases involving the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant is up by 325 for a total of 11,319.
There were six additional deaths reported to bring the provincial death toll up to 9,536.
Hospitals in Ontario have 326 COVID-19 positive patients admitted to general wards. There are 169 patients in intensive care and 114 are on ventilators. Of those on the general wards, 142 were unvaccinated, 17 were partially vaccinated, and 34 were fully vaccinated. Only 12 of those in ICU were fully vaccinated.
The number of resolved cases are up to 738 to 552,248. There are currently 6,094 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 28,786 COVID-19 tests were processed, up from 27,293 the previous day. Ontario’s positivity rate has risen to 3.2 per cent.
There are now more than 10 million people in Ontario who have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine required to be considered fully inoculated. A total of 10,006,367 people across the province were fully vaccinated as of Thursday night. That milestone comes as Ontario administered it's highest number of vaccine doses in two weeks Thursday. Christine Elliott tweeted that there has been a steady rise in the number of people booking appointments since the province introduced a vaccine certificate system on Wednesday.
"Ontario administered 43,855 doses, the most shots in two weeks. Almost half were first doses as more people roll up their sleeves. 6,651 appointments were booked on the provincial system, nearly double from a week ago. Let's keep it up Ontario," Elliott wrote.
Just over 20.8 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine has made it into the arms of Ontarians since the vaccine rollout began last December.