The Middlesex London Health Unit has recorded four more COVID-19 related deaths since late last week.
A man in his 70s and three women in their 60s, 80s, and 100s are the latest people in the city and county to succumb to the virus, the health unit said on Monday. So far this month, there have been 12 COVID-19 deaths in the region. The four latest deaths increase the local death toll to 460.
There have also been 209 new COVID-19 cases confirmed by the health unit since it last updated its COVID-19 dashboard last Thursday. 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 44,207 since the pandemic began.
Resolved cases are up to 42,990. The number of active cases locally increased by 63 to 757 over the past four days.
As of Monday, the health unit has begun administering the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty bivalent COVID-19 vaccine to people 12 and older. The shot is said to protect against the original strain of the virus as well as the Omicron variant. Both the Pfizer and Moderna bivalent vaccines are available at the mass vaccination clinics at the Western Fair District’s main building and at the Caradoc Community Centre in Mount Brydges. Appointments, which are strongly recommended, can be booked at www.covidvaccinelm.ca or by calling 226-289-3560 Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The health unit’s next scheduled COVID-19 update will be on Thursday.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported Monday it has 63 patients with the virus in its care. That is an increase of three since Friday. According to hospital officials, 22 of the current inpatients are being treated for the virus, while the other 41 are being treated for other ailments but have tested positive for COVID.
The intensive care unit has five or fewer infected patients. There are also five or fewer patients with COVID-19 at Children’s Hospital, but none are listed in paediatric critical care.
The number of hospital workers who have tested positive dropped by 20 on Monday. There are now 59 infected staffers at the LHSC.
There are four level two COVID-19 outbreaks at the LHSC's two hospitals. Two are at University Hospital on the U4 Medicine and U9 Orthopaedics units. The other two outbreaks are at Victoria Hospital on the B7 100 Mental Health and B7 200/PICU units.
Southwestern Public Health, the health unit that covers Elgin and Oxford counties, only updates its COVID-19 cases dashboard on Wednesdays, while the province issues its weekly updated numbers on Thursdays.