The London region has recorded its ninth straight day of double-digit COVID-19 case increases.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged 18 new infections on Wednesday, up from 12 on Tuesday, 14 on Monday, and 16 on Sunday. The last time the region saw a single-day case count was on November 15 when just five infections were recorded.
The total number of cases locally since the pandemic began sits at 14,780.
There were no additional COVID-19 related deaths in the region, leaving the death toll unchanged at 252.
Resolved cases are up by seven to 14,390. There are currently 138 active cases locally, up from 126 the previous day.
Hospitalizations in the area are up by one with 22 COVID-19 patients in the care of the London Health Sciences Centre. Of those, ten are listed in intensive care and five or fewer are in Children’s Hospital. There are five or fewer hospital employees who have tested positive for the virus.
There are currently no schools or daycares in London or Middlesex County dealing with outbreaks. The Thames Valley District School Board currently has 65 active cases at 33 of its schools. The London District Catholic School Board has four active cases at three elementary schools.
Of the 477 new cases logged over the past six weeks, 56.4 per cent are among people who are either not vaccinated, not fully vaccinated or had the shot but it had not yet begun offering protection. The remaining 43.6 per cent were among those who had received both doses of the vaccine.
Southwestern Public Health reported 22 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, increasing the local case count since the pandemic began to 5,218. The death toll was unchanged at 97. Resolved cases rose to 4,956. There are now 165 active cases in the two counties. Aylmer Retirement Residence is the only local seniors' facility currently dealing with an outbreak of the virus. There are eight resident cases and two staff infections linked to the outbreak. There are also ongoing outbreaks at three area schools - Port Burwell Public, St. Michael's Catholic in Woodstock, and Glendale High in Tillsonburg.
Ontario saw single-day COVID-19 case numbers fall back below 600 on Wednesday.
A total of 591 new infections were confirmed over the past 24 hours, down from Tuesday’s 613 and Monday’s 627. It is the first time since last Wednesday daily case counts have been under 600. The seven-day average caseload is now 686, up from 587 a week ago.
Of the latest 591 new cases, 293 were among unvaccinated people, 14 involved partially vaccinated people, 237 were fully vaccinated individuals, and 47 had unknown vaccination status.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 613,522.
According to public health officials, there were seven additional deaths related to the virus recorded Wednesday. The official death toll now stands at 9,981.
Hospitalizations in the province stand at 289 COVID-19 positive patients. That’s up by seven patients from the previous day. There are 137 people in intensive care, an increase of three since Tuesday and the number of people on a ventilator is up by seven to 118.
The latest figures from the Ministry of Health shows of the patients with COVID-19 on general hospital wards, 104 were unvaccinated, five have had one dose, and 59 were fully vaccinated. Of those in the ICU, 69 are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated and 14 have received both doses.
Resolved cases across the province are up by 664 to 598,134. That leaves 5,407 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 30,092 COVID-19 tests were processed, up from 19,859 the previous day. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 2.5 per cent.
The province has administered 22,833,157doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday night. There are 11.2 million people in Ontario who have received both doses of the vaccine and are considered fully inoculated.