For the second straight day, the number of people with COVID-19 in London hospital went down, while the death toll went up.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported 31 patients with COVID-19 in its care on Wednesday, down two from the previous day. A week ago, there were 46 inpatients with the virus. The number of people with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit remained at five or fewer. At Children’s Hospital there are five or fewer infected inpatients, with none in paediatric critical care. That number is the same as was recorded on Tuesday.
The LHSC specified that, of the 31 COVID-19 patients at its hospitals, 19 are being treated for COVID-19, while 12 were admitted for other reasons but also have the virus.
The hospital network reported on Wednesday that it currently has 139 employees who have tested positive for the virus. That is down one from Tuesday, and down 28 from a week ago.
Another 41 COVID-19 cases were logged on Wednesday, up from 27 the previous day. There was one additional death linked to the virus recorded over the past 24 hours. A man in his 60s who was not associated with a long-term care or retirement home succumbed to COVID-19, the Middlesex London Health Unit confirmed. The latest death increases the local death toll to 381. Resolved cases increased to 36,531, leaving the number of known active cases locally at 532. 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 48 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, increasing the local case count since the pandemic began to 13,640. There were no additional deaths recorded, leaving the death toll unchanged at 165. Resolved cases rose to 13,230 and there are now 245 known active cases in the two counties.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Ontario fell slightly on Wednesday as the provincial death toll increased by nearly 30.
A total of 1,528 people infected with the virus are currently in hospitals across the province. That is a decrease of 27 from Tuesday. At this time last week, there were 1,698 COVID-19 positive people in the hospital. Forty-one per cent of the people in hospital on Wednesday were admitted because of the virus, while 59 per cent were there for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.
Of those in hospital, 176 are in the ICU, down 12 from the previous day.
According to public health officials, there were 29 additional deaths related to the virus on Wednesday. All 29 occurred within the last month. The official death toll now stands at 13,020.
The province recorded 1,995 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 1,279,200.
Resolved cases across the province are up by 3,040 to 1,244,969.
In the last 24 hour period, 20,465 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is currently 11.3 per cent, down from 14.3 per cent a week ago.
The province has administered 32,998,818 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday night. Figures show 91.2 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received both doses of the vaccine. There are more than 7.3 million people in the province who have received their third shot.