London and Middlesex County saw just under two dozen new COVID-19 infections over the past two days, pushing the number of active cases in the region back above 50.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported 13 new cases on Friday and eight new cases on Thursday. The two days worth of COVID-19 data was released together after public health officials took Canada Day off from reporting. Friday's figure is the highest daily case count locally since June 17 when 13 infections were also logged.
There has now been a total of 12,582 cases in the area since the pandemic began.
No additional deaths were reported over the past two days, leaving the death toll at 226.
The number of resolved cases rose to 12,293. For the first time in a week, known active cases in the region climbed back above 50 to 63.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has a total of seven COVID-19 inpatients. Of those, fewer than five are listed in intensive care and fewer than five are COVID-19 patients who were transferred in from another region. Currently, there are no hospital staff who have tested positive for the virus.
The number of cases involving variants of concern identified in the area went up by three to 3,481. There have been 3,356 cases involving the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant that originated in the U.K., 97 cases of the P.1 (Gamma) variant from Brazil, including one sublineage, two cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) variant from South Africa, and 23 cases of the B.1.617 (Delta) variant, originally found in India.
The effort to vaccinate all those who want to be in the region continues. As of the start of the week, 445,621 doses have been administered by the health unit with 75.3 per cent of residents aged 12 and older having received one shot. A total of 23.4 per cent of residents aged 12 and older have been given both doses. Appointments in Middlesex London can be booked online at www.covidvaccinelm.ca or by calling 226-289-3560 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, the number of new cases remained rose to six. That total is for both Thursday and Friday. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said the local total number of cases is now 3,884 with 3,788 resolved. The death toll was unchanged at 83. Currently, there are 13 active cases in the two counties. As of Thursday, 76.6 per cent of local residents 18 and older have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 32.6 per cent have been given both doses. Fast-tracked second dose shots for kids aged 12 to 17 open on Monday. This will allow those in that age group to book their second dose mRNA vaccine just 28 days after their first.
More than 450 new COVID-19 cases are reported across the province over the past two days.
Public health officials confirmed 200 new infections on Friday and 284 on Thursday. Ontario did not report COVID-19 numbers on Canada Day. There were 184 cases logged on Wednesday.
Waterloo had the province’s highest daily number of cases over the past 24 hours with 41, followed by Toronto with 23 and Peel Region with 21.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 545,381.
There have been another 389 new cases of the variant originating from the U.K. in Ontario. That brings the province’s total number of B.1.1.7. (Alpha) cases to 143,833. Cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) variant are up by 50 with 1,415 total and P.1 (Gamma) variants are up by 84 to 4,628. The number of new cases involving the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant is up by 86 for a total of 1,995.
There were 28 additional deaths reported to bring the provincial death toll up to 9,196.
Hospitalizations in Ontario are down by 72 with 179 COVID-19 positive patients admitted. There are 252 patients in intensive care and 160 are on ventilators. ICU numbers include patients who previously tested positive for COVID-19 but have since recovered and remain due to other complications.
The number of resolved cases now stand at 534,010. There are currently 2,175 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, nearly 25,200 COVID-19 tests were processed, down from 26,900 the previous day. Ontario’s current positivity rate remains low at 0.9 per cent.
To date, the province has administered 15,154,499 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 5,185,939 people having received both shots required to be fully inoculated. That works out to 77 per cent of adult Ontarians having received their first dose and more than 42 per cent fully immunized.
