The Middlesex London Health Unit has confirmed there has been another COVID-19 related death, the region's fifth in just four days.
A man in his 70s with no link to long-term care or a retirement home succumbed to the virus, the health unit said on Friday. This is the fourth consecutive day there has been a COVID-19 related death in London and Middlesex County. Two deaths were recorded on Tuesday, followed by one death each day since. The local death toll now stands at 383.
Another 30 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed on Friday by the health unit, down from 63 the previous day. The health unit continues to note that single-day case counts are likely an underestimate of the true number of people in the region with the virus, due to limited testing eligibility. The total number of confirmed infections in the region since the pandemic began is now 37,541.
The number of resolved cases rose to 36,652. There are 506 known active cases in the region, down 18 over the past 24 hours.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) confirmed 34 inpatients with the virus remain in its care, a decrease of two since Thursday. The hospital network noted 19 of the 34 infected inpatients were admitted for treatment of the virus. The 15 others came to the hospital for other reasons and tested positive for the virus.
The LHSC has five or fewer patients with COVID listed in intensive care, a figure that has held steady for the past week and a half. Children’s Hospital has five or fewer inpatients with the virus, with none of those inpatients listed in paediatric critical care.
The number of infected hospital workers was unchanged on Friday. The LHSC said there are currently 149 employees who have tested positive, the same number as was reported on Thursday. At this time last week, there were 170 infected workers.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there were 44 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said that brings the local total number of cases to 13,683 with 13,267 resolved. There were no additional COVID-19 deaths locally, leaving the death toll at 165. There are currently 251 known active cases in the two counties.
There was a slight increase in the number of COVID-19 positive Ontarians admitted to hospital on Friday.
There are currently 1,453 people in hospitals in Ontario with the virus, up two since Thursday. At this time last week, 1,662 hospitalizations were reported across the province.
Of the 1,662 people in hospital Friday, roughly 40 per cent were admitted because of the virus, while 60 per cent were admitted for other reasons and tested positive for the virus.
In intensive care units, there are 168 patients with COVID-19, a decrease of seven from Thursday.
Ontario logged 1,969 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours. Public health officials have cautioned the daily counts are an underestimate of the spread of the virus in the province due to limited PCR testing eligibility.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 1,283,329.
Public health officials confirmed 18 additional deaths over the past 24 hours, pushing the death toll up to 13,052. The province said all of the 18 deaths occurred within the last month.
The number of resolved cases are up by 2,249 to 1,249,820.
In the last 24 hour period, 16,020 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 12 per cent, down from 13.8 per cent a week ago.
To date, the province has administered 33,056,135 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 91.2 per cent of people 12 and older having received two shots. More than 7.3 million Ontarians have received a booster shot.