COVID-19 hospitalizations in the London region went back up on Wednesday.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported that it has two additional patients with COVID-19 in its care than on Tuesday, for a total of 46 inpatients with the virus. That is also up from this time last week when there were 38 COVID positive inpatients at the LHSC. The number of people with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit remained at five or fewer and Children’s Hospital had five or fewer patients with the virus, unchanged from Tuesday.
The LHSC specified that, of the 46 COVID-19 patients at its hospitals, 17 are being treated for COVID-19, while 29 were admitted for other reasons but also have the virus.
The hospital network reported on Wednesday that it currently has 278 employees who have tested positive for the virus. That is down three from Tuesday, but is up 25 from a week ago.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged 126 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, up from 74 the previous day. The death toll was unchanged for the second straight day at 366. Resolved cases increased to 33,920, leaving the number of known active cases locally at 1,028 However, public health officials have said current case numbers are likely an underestimation of the true number of people with the virus due to eligibility changes for lab-based PCR testing.
Southwestern Public Health reported 87 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, increasing the local case count since the pandemic began to 12,593. One death was removed from the health unit's tally, decreasing the death toll to 156. Resolved cases rose to 11,996 and there are now 441 known active cases in the two counties.
The number of people in Ontario hospitals with COVID-19 remained above 1,300 for a second consecutive day.
A total of 1,332 people infected with the virus are currently in hospitals across the province. That is down by 34 from Tuesday. At this time last week, there were 1,074 COVID-19 positive people in the hospital. Forty-seven per cent of the people in hospital on Wednesday were admitted because of the virus, while 53 per cent were there for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.
Of those in hospital, 182 are in the ICU, down eight from the previous day.
According to public health officials, there were 13 additional deaths related to the virus on Wednesday. Twelve of the deaths occurred within the last month, while one occurred more than a month ago. The official death toll now stands at 12,583.
The province recorded 3,833 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, which is considered an underestimate of community spread. Daily case numbers are no longer thought to be a true reflection of spread of the virus in the province as the government has limited who is eligible for a free PCR test.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 1,159,671.
Resolved cases across the province are up by 3,339 to 1,142,051.
In the last 24 hour period, 23,618 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is currently 17.5 per cent, down from 18 per cent a week ago.
The province has administered 32,281,477 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday night. Figures show 91 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received both doses of the vaccine. There are more than 7.2 million people in the province who have received their third shot.