Pharmacy technician drawing up doses of COVID vaccine. (File photo by Colin Gowdy, Blackburn News)Pharmacy technician drawing up doses of COVID vaccine. (File photo by Colin Gowdy, Blackburn News)
London

COVID-19 hospitalizations in London down

After holding at 36 the past two days, the number of people with COVID-19 in London hospital has gone down.

The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported 33 patients with COVID-19 in its care on Wednesday, down three from the previous day. A week ago, there were 31 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 has been the same for more than a week.

The LHSC specified that, of the 33 COVID-19 patients at its hospitals, 19 are being treated for COVID-19, while 14 were admitted for other reasons but also have the virus.

The hospital network reported on Wednesday that it currently has 130 employees who have tested positive for the virus. That is down five from Tuesday, and down nine from a week ago.

Another 43 COVID-19 cases were logged on Wednesday, up from 25 the previous day. There has not been a death linked to the virus in five days. Resolved cases increased to 36,928, leaving the number of known active cases locally at 416. 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 47 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, increasing the local case count since the pandemic began to 13,776. There was one additional death recorded, increasing the death toll to 167. Resolved cases rose to 13,416 and there are now 193 known active cases in the two counties.

Ontario is reporting a drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations.

A total of 1,248 people infected with the virus are currently in hospitals across the province. That is a decrease of 97 from Tuesday. At this time last week, there were 1,528 COVID-19 positive people in the hospital. Thirty-eight per cent of the people in hospital on Wednesday were admitted because of the virus, while 62 per cent were there for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.

Of those in hospital, 163 are in the ICU, down two from the previous day.

According to public health officials, there were 16 additional deaths related to the virus on Wednesday. Fourteen of those deaths occurred within the last month, while two occurred more than a month ago. The official death toll now stands at 13,099.

The province recorded 1,692 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 1,290,249.

Resolved cases across the province are up by 2,374 to 1,259,578.

In the last 24 hour period, 15,599 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is currently 10.5 per cent, down from 11.3 per cent a week ago.

The province has administered 33,151,398 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday night. Figures show 91.3 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.

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