There were no additional COVID-19 deaths logged in the London area over the weekend, but hospitalizations from the virus saw a slight jump.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) said on Monday it has 36 inpatients in its care being treated for COVID-19, up two since Friday. At this time last week, there were 35 COVID positive inpatients at the LHSC. According to hospital officials, 19 of the current inpatients are being treated for the virus, while the remaining 17 were being treated for other ailments but have tested positive for COVID.
The intensive care unit has five or fewer inpatients with COVID-19, a figure that has remained the same over a week and a half. The number of inpatients with the virus admitted to Children’s Hospital is also unchanged at five or fewer. Of those at Children’s, none are listed in paediatric critical care.
The number of hospital workers who have tested positive for the virus dropped on Monday. There are 131 infected staffers at the LHSC, down 18 since Friday. At this time last week, 138 hospital employees had contracted the virus.
The hospital network confirmed an outbreak at University Hospital's U4 Medicine 100 and low 200 wings has now been declared over. It is the first time in several weeks there have been no active outbreaks at the LHSC.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported 116 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend.
There were 29 new cases recorded on Monday, 50 new cases on Sunday, and 37 new cases on Saturday. However, public health officials caution that single-day case numbers are an underestimate of community spread due to eligibility changes that limit who can receive a test. The area’s total case count stands at 37,654 since the pandemic began.
There were no additional deaths added to the overall count over the past 72 hours. The local death toll since the pandemic began remains at 383. Late last week, the region saw at least one COVID-19 related death each day for four straight days.
Resolved cases are up to 36,808. The number of active cases locally went down by 43 since Friday to 463 on Monday.
Southwestern Public Health, the health unit that covers Elgin and Oxford counties, reported 51 new cases since Friday. The latest infections bring the two counties’ total case count to 13,730. There was one additional death recorded over the weekend, increasing the death toll to 166. The health unit said the total number of resolved cases in the area is 13,373 and there are 198 known active cases locally.
Provincially, COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions both went up.
There are currently 1,122 people with the virus in hospital, up 98 from Sunday. A week ago there were 1,213 COVID positive people in Ontario hospitals. Intensive care unit (ICU) admissions increased by eight to 159. Hospitalization and ICU numbers could actually be higher than what was released Monday as not all hospitals report over the weekend, public health officials reminded.
Ontario logged 1,061 new infections over the past 24 hours. But single-day case counts are considered to be an underestimation of community spread as the Ford government continues to restrict eligibility for publicly-funded COVID-19 tests. The latest cases put Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic to 1,287,529.
Public health officials said there were two COVID-19 deaths on Monday. Both of the latest deaths occurred within the last month. The provincial death toll since the pandemic began two years ago stands at 13,072.
The number of resolved cases are up by 1,394 to 1,255,239.
In the last 24 hour period, 8,132 COVID-19 tests were processed. Data pertaining to Ontario’s positivity rate was not available “due to technical difficulties,” provincial officials said.
There have been 33,104,203 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in Ontario as of Sunday night. Figures indicate 93.1 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received one dose of the vaccine, while 91.2 per cent have been given their second dose. To date, more than 7.3 million Ontarians have received a booster shot.