For a second day in a row, the London region's daily tally of new COVID-19 cases rose above 30.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged 33 new cases Thursday, the same number recorded the previous day. The region had started the week with lower single-day case numbers with seven reported Tuesday, 11 recorded Monday, and 22 confirmed on Sunday. Every day but one over the past five weeks has seen daily case counts in the double-digits.
The total number of cases locally since the pandemic began is now 13,732, according to the health unit.
The death toll is unchanged at 237, with no additional COVID-19 related deaths reported in London or Middlesex County since Tuesday.
The number of resolved cases is up by 43 to 13,309. Currently, there are 186 active cases in the region, down eight from the previous day.
The number of cases involving variants of concern in London and Middlesex County has gone up by one to 4,124. The new case was identified as the Delta variant for a total of 610 locally. The number of cases of the Alpha variant, Gamma variant, and Beta variant were unchanged leaving those totals at 3,384, 124, and two.
The London Health Sciences Centre has seven patients in its care with COVID-19, unchanged from Wednesday. Five or fewer of those patients are listed in intense care and fewer than five are admitted to Children's Hospital. There are fewer than five hospital staffers who are isolating after contracting the virus.
At schools across the region, more cases are popping up. The Thames Valley District school board confirmed new infections at five of its schools on Wednesday night. Two more schools were added to the list late Thursday evening.
The latest cases are at Stoney Creek and Cedar Hollow public in London, Blenheim District in Blenheim, Central Elgin Collegiate and Parkside Collegiate in St. Thomas, Westfield in Tillsonburg and Northdale in Woodstock. Thames Valley currently has 17 active cases at 15 of its schools. The local French-language board has eight active cases, while the London District Catholic school board has none.
Of the 862 new COVID-19 cases to be reported in the region over the past six weeks, 83.2 per cent were among people who were not yet fully vaccinated against the virus or had not reached full immunity. As of last Saturday, 84.7 per cent of all local residents 12 and older have received one dose of the vaccine and 78.4 per cent have been given both shots. As the vaccination effort continues to focus on easing access, the health unit opened a walk-in vaccine clinic at White Oaks Mall on Tuesday. Anyone needing a first or second dose can go to that location without an appointment any day this week.
Sixteen new COVID-19 cases were logged Thursday in Elgin and Oxford counties, up from ten new infections recorded on Wednesday. Southwestern Public Health’s total caseload has now increased to 4,190. The death toll remained at 85, with no additional COVID-19 deaths reported. The total number of resolved cases stands at 4,033 and there are 72 known active cases locally.
Provincially, the daily number of COVID-19 cases jumped over 800 after two straight days below 600.
Public health officials said there were 864 new cases on Thursday. That is up from the 593 infections logged on Wednesday, 577 cases recorded on Tuesday, and 600 cases on Monday.
Of the 864 new cases identified on Thursday, 533 were among unvaccinated individuals, 56 were people who were partially vaccinated, 209 were fully vaccinated individuals, and 66 had an unknown vaccination status.
Regions with the most new cases over the past 24 hours were Toronto with 162, Peel Region with 122, York Region, York Region with 78, and Ottawa with 64.
The province’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 577,253.
According to the province’s daily epidemiologic summary, Ontario identified one new case of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant over the past 24 hours for a total of 146,452. Cases of the P.1 (Gamma) variant and B.1.351 (Beta) variant were unchanged at 5,227 and 1,502. There were 236 new cases involving the B.1.617 (Delta) variant for a total of 15,925.
Three additional deaths related to the virus were reported on Thursday. The province’s death toll is currently 9,632.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are 348 people with COVID-19 on general wards, an increase of two from the previous day. The number of people in the intensive care unit went up by three to 191 and there are 167 people on ventilators – an increase of two from Wednesday.
Of those on general hospital wards with COVID-19, 155 are not fully vaccinated and 29 have received both doses.
The number of resolved cases rose by 668 to 561,492. There are currently 6,129 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 34,365 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 2.4 per cent.
The province has administered more than 21.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of Wednesday night. There are more than 10.2 million people in Ontario who have now received the second dose of the vaccine to be considered fully inoculated.
Health Canada approved name changes for the COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday. The authorization will allow the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to now be called Comirnaty, the Moderna vaccine to be named SpikeVax, and the AstraZeneca vaccine will now be Vaxzevria.
"These are only name changes. There are no changes to the vaccines themselves,” Health Canada said in a post on social media.
(1/4) Health Canada has authorized brand name changes for the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.
— Health Canada and PHAC (@GovCanHealth) September 16, 2021