The number of new COVID-19 cases recorded in the London region in a single day has hit a low not seen since the start of August.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported just two new infections on Monday, down from 10 cases logged on Sunday and 15 cases recorded on Saturday. The last time the area saw a daily case increase below five was on August 3, when zero cases were logged. This is also only the fourth time this month the daily tally of new cases has been in the single-digits.
The area’s total case count stands at 14,293 since the pandemic began.
There has not been an additional COVID-19 related death locally since October 10, when two men, one in his 80s and another in his 50s, succumbed to the virus. The death toll remains at 243.
Resolved cases in the city and county are up by 17 to 13,946. Currently, there are 104 active cases in the region, down 15 since the previous day.
There are now a total of 4,280 variants of concern identified in the region as of Monday, up six from Sunday. All of the new variants of concern confirmed over the past 24 hours are of the Delta B.1.617 strain, bringing the total to 766. The Alpha B.1.1.7 variant accounts for 3,384 of the cases. There are also 124 cases of the Gamma P.1. variant and two cases identified as the Beta B.1.351 variant.
An outbreak at Ryerson Public School has been declared over. The outbreak was declared on October 10 and ended on Sunday, according to the health unit. That leaves just two other schools with outbreaks – St. Kateri Elementary School in London and Providence Reformed Collegiate, a private school in Komoka. The Thames Valley District School Board has 19 active cases at 16 schools, while the London District Catholic School Board has two active cases at two of its schools. Close contacts of the infected individuals have been notified and are isolating accordingly.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is reporting nine patients with COVID-19 in its care, the same number as reported on Friday. Five or fewer of those patients are listed in intensive care and five or fewer are at Children’s Hospital. The LHSC currently has five or fewer staffers who have tested positive for the virus.
Of the 688 people in the London region who have contracted the virus over the past six weeks, 64.2 per cent were not vaccinated, 6 per cent were partially vaccinated, 3.5 per cent had received the vaccine but it had not yet taken effect, and 26.3 per cent were fully vaccinated. The unvaccinated or partially vaccinated account for 66.7 percent of local hospitalizations.
The number of new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Elgin and Oxford counties was 30 on Monday. That number includes infections identified both Saturday and Sunday, as Southwestern Public Health does not update its COVID-19 dashboard on weekends. The latest cases bring the two counties total case count to 4,513. There were no additional deaths recorded since Friday, leaving the death toll unchanged at 89. Elgin Manor in St. Thomas is the only seniors’ facility dealing with an outbreak with two staff cases and two resident cases. The health unit said the total number of resolved cases in the area is 4,336, leaving 88 known active cases. As of Sunday, 86.5 per cent of all people in the two counties 12 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 82.5 per cent have been given both shots.
Provincially, daily cases were under 500 for an eighth consecutive day.
Public health officials reported 373 new infections on Monday. That is down from 443 on Sunday, and 486 on Saturday.
The drop in new infections comes on the same day Ontario made its proof of COVID-19 vaccination QR code available to all residents to download. Ontarians began downloading the scannable proof of their vaccination status on Friday when it was introduced in a staggered approach. Since then, more than 2.2 million people have downloaded their enhanced vaccine certificate, Health Minister Christine Elliott said.
Great news! Since the launch of the enhanced vaccine certificate with official QR code on Friday, over 2.2 million Ontarians have downloaded their copy in advance of October 22!
Starting today, anyone can download their enhanced vaccine certificate at https://t.co/oe5YrSxcEt.— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) October 18, 2021
Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required to access indoor restaurant and bar dining, gyms, theatres, and sporting venues. I.D must be shown along with the enhanced vaccine certificate. Many people trying to download their QR code on Monday reported long waits and technical errors.
Of the 373 cases recorded over the past 24 hours, 214 were reportedly among unvaccinated people, 17 involved partially vaccinated people, and 108 were fully vaccinated people. There were 34 COVID-positive individuals whose vaccination status was not known.
Regions with the most new cases Monday were Peel Region with 71, Toronto with 62, and Ottawa with 36.
The province’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 595,235.
According to the province’s daily epidemiologic summary, Ontario added one case of the B.1.1.7. variant, or Alpha as it is known, since the previous day. That brings the total to 146,495. There were no additional cases of the P.1 variant, Gamma and the B.1.351 variant, Beta, leaving the totals unchanged at 5,230 and 1,503. There were 81 more cases identified as the B.1.617 (Delta) variant, increasing the total to 19,880.
Two additional COVID-19 related deaths were reported over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll up to 9,815.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are 145 patients with COVID-19, down by ten from Sunday. The total number of patients in the intensive care unit is up by four to 168 and the number of patients on ventilators is up by three to 138.
The number of resolved cases rose by 423 to 581,574. There are currently 3,846 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, more than 20,400 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s current positivity rate sits at 1.8 per cent.
The province has administered 22,243,609 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of Sunday night. Nearly 87.5 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received one dose of the vaccine, while 83.1 per cent have been given their second dose to be considered fully inoculated.