The number of new daily COVID-19 cases in London and Middlesex County surpassed 30 for the first time this month.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported 31 new infections on Friday, up from 28 Thursday and 19 on Wednesday. It is the highest number of cases to be recorded in a single day in the region since February 13.
The city and county's total case load since the start of the pandemic now stands at 6,537.
Resolved cases rose to 6,177 and the death toll was unchanged at 185. There are 175 known active cases in the area.
One additional screened positive variant case has been identified for a total of 39.
Five long-term care and retirement homes and one school (Wilberforce public in Lucan) continue to deal with outbreaks of the virus. The health unit declared an outbreak at Bonaventure Meadows public over on Thursday.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) said the outbreak on one of University Hospital's medicine units has not seen any new cases with fewer than five patients and staff infected. There are no deaths linked to that outbreak. There are 11 patients with COVID-19 in the LHSC's care, with fewer than five in the intensive care unit.
Vaccination efforts at the region's three mass clinics is continuing, with the health unit to open it up to seniors 75 and older on Monday. Medical Officer of Health Dr. Chris Mackie has advised the 75-plus population to familiarize themselves with the online booking process, and to reach out to a family member or friend who could assist them with making an appointment. It is anticipating appointment booking for that age group will begin next Thursday. To book online head to CovidVaccineLM.ca.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, daily confirmed cases hit double-digits. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said there were 13 new COVID-19 infections recorded Friday. All of those cases are in Oxford County divided between Woodstock, Ingersoll, and Tillsonburg. The region’s total number of cases is now 2,671, with 2,538 resolved and 67 deaths. There has not been a COVID-19 death locally since February 20. Currently, there are 66 active cases in the two counties.
Ontario’s daily case count saw a surge on Friday.
Public health officials confirmed 1,745 new infections across the province over the past 24 hours. That’s up from 1,553 Thursday, 1,508 Wednesday and 1,074 Tuesday.
Toronto had the province's highest daily number of cases Friday with 478, that was followed by Peel with 344, York Region with 174, and Hamilton with 116.
There has been another 704 variant cases identified in Ontario. It brings the province's total number of B.1.1.7,cases to 1,175. Cases of the B.1.351 and P.1 variants total 87 and 35.
Ontario total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 325,254.
There were ten additional deaths reported over the past 24 hours. The province death toll is now 7,212.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are 759 patients with COVID-19. Of those, 309 are in intensive care and 176 are on ventilators.
The number of resolved cases rose to 304,789. There are currently 13,253 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 56,134 COVID-19 tests were processed, down from more than 58,500 the previous day. The province positivity rate increased to 3.3 per cent from 3.1 per cent.
To date, the province has administered 1,420,599 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 294,749 people having received both shots required to be fully inoculated.
