The Middlesex London Health Unit is reporting its second COVID-19 death in less than a week.
A man in his 80s, not associated with a long-term care or retirement home, is the latest to succumb to the virus, the health unit said on Tuesday. This is the second COVID-19 related death since Saturday and the fourth this month. The region's death toll is now 187.
On the region's first day back in the red-control zone of Ontario's COVID-19 framework, the number of new cases dropped slightly to 46. That is down from 57 on Monday and 78 on Sunday. Middlesex-London was shifted back into the more restrictive red level of the colour-coded system as of 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday. The move from orange-restrict to red came after a week of steadily increasing infections in the county and city.
There have been a total of 6,996 COVID-19 cases in the region since the pandemic began. Of those, 6,365 have been resolved. Currently, there are 444 known active cases.
Outbreaks remain at three local seniors' facilities (Glendale Crossing, Henley Place, and Kensington Village), and two schools (Riverbend Academy in Delaware and Woodland Heights Public in London). Western University has four residences with active outbreaks - Elgin Hall, Essex Hall, Ontario Hall, and Saugeen-Maitland Hall.
As of Sunday, 78,380 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in London and Middlesex. The region expanded eligibility to receive the shot to people aged 70 and older on Monday. By noon on Tuesday, all appointments for those born in 1951 or earlier where booked up to and including April 13, the health unit tweeted. More spots will open up as of 7 a.m. on Wednesday. Appointments can be booked online at www.covidvaccinelm.ca or by phone at 226-289-3560 for those unable to access the web booking site.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there were a dozen new infections on Tuesday. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said there were 12 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours to bring the total caseload since last March to 2,809. The death toll is unchanged at 69 with no new COVID-19 deaths over the last 24 hours. Resolved cases are up to 2,656 with 84 known active cases in the two counties remaining. Roughly 5.5 per cent of area residents have had one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 1.9 per cent have received both doses.
Ontario’s daily case count jumped back above 2,300.
Public health officials logged 2,336 new infections across the province on Tuesday. That’s up from 2,094 on Monday. This is the sixth straight day daily cases have exceeded 2,000.
Toronto had the province’s highest daily number of cases with 727, that was followed by Peel with 434, York Region with 229, Durham with 194, Ottawa with 144, and Hamilton with 123.
Ontario has confirmed 51 more cases of the variant first discovered in the U.K., known as B.1.1.7, for a total of 1,800. There was six more cases of the variant first associated with South Africa, known as B.1.351. to bring the total to 69. Eight more cases of the variant first found in Brazil, known as P.1. were identified for a total of 90.
Ontario total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 347,570.
There were 14 additional deaths reported over the past 24 hours. The provincial death toll is now 7,351.
At hospitals in Ontario, the number of COVID-19 positive patients has risen to 1,090. Of those, 387 are in intensive care and 249 are on ventilators.
The number of resolved cases rose to 320,409. There are currently 19,810 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 36,071 COVID -19 tests were processed. That is down from 39,000 the previous day and brings the province positivity rate to 6.2 per cent.
To date, the province has administered 2,102,380 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 313,889 people having received both shots required to be fully inoculated.
