There has been a slight rise in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and infected hospital staffers in the London area.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) confirmed it currently has 56 inpatients with COVID-19 in its care, up nine since Monday. The number of people hospitalized with the virus at the LHSC has bounced between the low 40s and mid-60s since the start of the month.
Of those currently hospitalized, there are 18 being treated for COVID-19 and 38 being treated for other ailments but have also tested positive.
There are currently five or fewer COVID infected patients listed in the intensive care unit, down from seven on Monday. Children’s Hospital has five or fewer inpatients with the virus. None are listed in paediatric critical care.
The number of hospital employees who have contracted COVID-19 went up on Thursday. The LHSC said it has 92 infected staffers, an increase of 15 over the past four days.
There are currently two level two COVID-19 outbreaks at the LHSC. The latest was declared on the B7 200/PICU at Victoria Hospital. The U4 Medicine Unit at University Hospital has had an ongoing outbreak for the past week and a half.
The Middlesex London Health Unit has recorded 163 new cases in the area since Monday. The health unit now only updates its COVID-19 dashboard twice a week and daily case tallies are believed to be an underestimate of community spread since the provincial government limited eligibility for PCR testing at the end of December. The total number of confirmed cases locally since March 2020 is now 43,210, according to the health unit.
There have been no additional COVID-19 deaths recorded in London or Middlesex County since the start of the week. That leaves the local death toll unchanged at 448.
The number of resolved cases is up to 42,231. Currently, there are 537 known active cases in the region, up from 466 a week ago.
Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for Elgin and Oxford counties, reported 148 more COVID-19 cases this week, increasing the local case count since the pandemic began to 15,948. One additional COVID-19 death was recorded in the region, increasing the local death toll at 184. Resolved cases rose to 15,562 and there are now 202 known active cases in the two counties.