For the second straight day, the London region has set a record for the highest single-day jump in COVID-19 cases.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported 46 new infections on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record high of 38, set a day earlier. The area’s COVID-19 cases have been steadily increasing since Sunday when 19 cases were reported. That spiked to 33 on Monday and when combined with the past two day’s case numbers brings the weekly total to 136.
The total case count since the start of the pandemic stands at 1,696.
There were four additional COVID-19 deaths over the past 24 hours, double the number on Tuesday and the highest reported in London-Middlesex since the start of the second wave. The last time the region recorded four deaths on the same day was during the peak of the first wave on April 29.
The latest deaths include a man and woman in their 70s, a woman in her 90s, and a man in his 80s. Three of them were connected to an ongoing outbreak at London Health Sciences Centre’s University Hospital, the health unit said. The death toll is now 73.
The six unit outbreak at the hospital has yet to show any sign of slowing down with a total of 97 cases - 47 staff and 50 patients - linked to it. Nine deaths have been associated with the outbreak. To honour the dead, the hospital has lower its flags to half-staff.
Another outbreak remains on a single unit at the Parkwood Institute.
The latest surge of cases prompted the health unit to "strongly advise" that all holiday gatherings be held virtually this year.
"The last thing we need now are super-spreader events dressed as Holiday traditions,” Medical Officer of Health Dr. Chris Mackie said in a statement. “If you are a leader in this community, we are asking that you ensure that your leadership points in the direction of safety. Employers, in particular, need to create online events to mark the Holidays for their staff members if they don’t want their workplaces to turn into outbreak zones.”
Mackie also said post-secondary students returning to their hometowns for the holidays need to self-isolate for 14 days prior to their departure to avoid bringing the virus to their families. It is also recommended they undergo another two-week quarantine upon their return to the city after the holidays.
Nine more recoveries were reported Wednesday, bringing resolved cases to 1,404.
Currently, there are 219 active COVID-19 cases in the city and county.
In Elgin and Oxford, there were more than a dozen new cases and one death reported. Southwestern Public Health, the region's health unit recorded 13 infections Wednesday to bring the total since the pandemic began to 576. The death is the first in the region since a week ago. It raises the death toll to seven. Recoveries were up by 11 to 504, leaving 65 active cases.
Ontario logged more than 1,700 new COVID-19 cases for a sixth consecutive day.
Public health officials said there were 1,723 new infections on Wednesday, up from 1,707 the previous day.
Of the new cases, 500 were in Peel, 410 were in Toronto, and 196 were in York Region.
The total number of cases in the province has risen to 119,922.
Thirty-five additional deaths linked to the virus were reported across the province, which matches the previous record high for the second wave set on November 25. The death toll is now 3,698.
The number of resolved cases rose to 101,698 with 1,686 additional recoveries reported.
There are currently 656 COVID-19 infected patients in hospitals across the province, including 183 in the intensive care unit and 106 on ventilators to breathe.
In the last 24 hour period, over 44,200 COVID-19 tests were processed.
