The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in the London region has reached a new low for the month of May.
The Middlesex London Health Unit said there were 26 new infections on Monday, down from 47 on Sunday and 55 on Saturday. Daily case numbers have not been this low since May 10 when 27 infections were logged.
The region’s total case count has climbed to 11,264 since the pandemic began 15 months ago.
For the first time in three days, there was another COVID-19 related death recorded locally. A woman in her 70s, who was not associated with long-term care or a retirement home, succumbed to the virus, public health officials confirmed. Her death increases the death toll to 213.
There were 160 more cases involving variants of concern identified in the region since Friday, for a total of 2,575. The B.1.1.7 variant, which originated in the U.K., now accounts for 2,549 of the cases. There are 25 cases of the P.1. variant from Brazil and one case of the B.1.617 variant that originated in India. Another 300 cases have tested positive for a mutation.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has 51 patients with COVID-19 in its care, down from 63 at the start of the weekend. Of those in hospital, 24 are in the intensive care unit. A total of 29 of the COVID-19 patients in the care of LHSC were transferred in from other hard hit regions – ten in acute care and 19 in ICU.
Outbreaks remain at four local seniors’ facilities and one daycare.
Resolved cases in the city and county have risen to 10,739. Currently, there are 672 active cases in the region.
As of Saturday, the health unit announced it had administered 200,000 doses of the vaccine. The minimum age of eligibility for the vaccine is being lowered to all adults 18 and older as of 8 a.m. Tuesday. The provincial government announced the expanded eligibility one week earlier than expected. Anyone eligible to get the shot can book an appointment at www.covidvaccinelm.ca.
The number of new cases in Elgin and Oxford counties was 36 on Monday. The number includes infections identified both Saturday and Sunday, as Southwestern Public Health does not update its COVID-19 dashboard on weekends. The latest cases bring the two counties total case count to 3,668. There were no additional deaths recorded over the past two days, leaving the death toll unchanged at 78. Outbreaks at Caressant Care Nursing home in Woodstock and Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital continue. There are ten reported infections along staff and residents at Caressant Care and 20 people with the virus at the hospital. Two deaths are associated with the two outbreaks with one at each facility. The health unit said the total number of resolved cases in the area is 3,466, leaving 124 known active cases in the two counties.
Provincially, the number of new COVID-19 cases dropped below 2,200 for a second straight day.
Public health officials reported 2,170 infections on Monday, a decrease from 2,199 on Sunday.
Regions with the most new cases were Toronto with 566, Peel with 556, York Region with 215, Durham with 120, and Hamilton with 101.
According to the province’s daily epidemiologic summary, Ontario identified 1,260 cases of the B.1.1.7. variant over the past 24 hours for a total of 108,801. There were 38 more cases of the P.1 variant for a total of 2,021, while the number of new cases of the B.1.351 variant is up by two for a total of 679. The daily epidemiologic summary does not currently list cases in the province of the B.1.617 variant, originally found in India. However, a statement from Premier Doug Ford's office issued on Monday confirms there have been 45 cases of the B.1.617 variant identified in Ontario.
The province’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 511,486.
Four deaths were reported over the past 24 hours, to increase the province’s death toll to 8,489.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are 1,320 patients with COVID-19, an increase of 28 since Sunday. The number of infected patients in the intensive care unit is down by six to 779 and there are 16 fewer patients on ventilators for a total of 536.
The number of resolved cases rose by 2,953 to 477,128. There are currently 25,869 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 24,498 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s current positivity rate has risen to 7.9 per cent, from 6.8 per cent the previous day.
The province has administered 7,177,145 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of Sunday night. A total of 432,760 people in Ontario have received their second dose of the vaccine to be considered fully inoculated.
