A day after nearly 30 new COVID-19 cases were logged in London and Middlesex County, daily infections dropped back below ten on Tuesday.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported just eight new cases and no additional deaths over the past 24 hours. That is down from 27 infections and one death on Monday. Daily case numbers in the region have ranged from less than ten to the mid-30s the last few weeks.
A total of 21 cases have been screened positive as a variant of concern. Medical Officer of Health Dr. Chris Mackie said earlier this week that variant cases are on the rise, accounting for more than 20 per cent of new infections in the area last week.
The region's total number of cases since the start of the pandemic is 6,318, with 5,993 resolved and 185 deaths. There are currently 140 known active cases.
There are outbreaks at six area long-term care and retirement homes and three schools. There are 13 active cases at seven schools in the city and county.
Cases of COVID-19 at Thames Valley schools continue to pop up. The school board confirmed a single new case of COVID-19 at Emily Stowe Public School in Norwich. There are currently 12 active cases within London area schools, five of which are linked to one school. More details can be found here.
The health unit reported 9,735 vaccine doses were administered last week for a total of 43,074 shots given across the region.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there was a drop in new infections Tuesday. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said there was a single new COVID-19 case over the past 24 hours to bring the total caseload since last March to 2,578. The death toll is unchanged at 67 with no new COVID-19 deaths since February 20. Outbreaks remain at two local seniors' facilities - Maples Retirement Home in Tavistock and Bethany Care Home Norwich. Appointment bookings for people 80 and over in Elgin and Oxford opened Tuesday with all of the 2,000 time slots filled before noon. Another block of 5,000 appointments will open in the region next Monday. Resolved cases are up to 2,467 with 44 known active cases in the two counties remaining.
Ontario’s daily case count fell back under 1,200 after a one day surge.
Public health officials logged 1,185 new infections across the province Tuesday. That's quite a decrease from 1,631 on Monday, which the province attributed to a data catch-up of its case and contact management system.
Toronto had the province highest daily number of cases over the past 24 hours with 343, that was followed by Peel with 235, and York Region with 105.
Ontario has confirmed 29 more cases of the variant first discovered in the U.K., known as B.1.1.7, for a total of 908. There were no new cases of the variant first associated with South Africa, known as B.1.351. or the variant first found in Brazil, known as P.1. That leaves the totals for those variants at 39 and 17.
Ontario total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 311,112.
There were six additional deaths reported over the past 24 hours. The province death toll is now 7,083.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are 689 patients with COVID -19. Of those, 290 are in intensive care and 184 are on ventilators.
The number of resolved cases rose to 292,806. There are currently 11,223 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 33,264 COVID -19 tests were processed. The province positivity rate is roughly 3.7 per cent.
To date, the province has administered 943,533 doses of the COVID -19 vaccine, with 276,193 people having received both shots required to be fully inoculated.
