Seven new COVID-19 cases were logged Thursday as the Middlesex London Health Unit announced more walk-in, pop-up vaccination clinics across the region.
The health unit will host 13 pop-up sites between Thursday and August 10 in order to get as many people as possible fully vaccinated before the end of the summer.
The clinics do not require appointments and are open to anyone 12-years-old and older in need of a first or second dose. Ten of the pop-ups are being held in London while others will be in Parkhill, Strathroy, and Glencoe.
“Although the number of people who have received their COVID-19 vaccine continues to climb, we know that booking an appointment at one of the mass clinics has been a barrier for some people, so we’re pulling out all the stops and reducing barriers to make getting the vaccine easier,” said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Chris Mackie. “Even with case numbers that are lower than we’ve seen in a long time, the Delta variant is a real threat in nearby regions. We need everyone to do their part to protect the community.”
Heading into this week, 76.7 per cent of all area residents aged 12 and older had received at least one dose of the vaccine and 34.8 per cent had been given both doses.
The full list of walk-in, pop-up clinics can be found by clicking here. More locations and dates are expected to be added over the next five weeks.
The seven new infections reported in the region on Thursday marked the sixth straight day daily case counts have been in the single-digits. On Wednesday nine cases were logged, followed by four cases on Tuesday, and six on Monday. The total number of cases locally since the pandemic began is now 12,613, according to the health unit.
The local death toll was unchanged at 226 with no additional deaths recorded over the past 12 days.
Hospitalizations in the area held steady on Thursday with 11 COVID-19 patients admitted to the London Health Sciences Centre. There are fewer than five COVID-19 patients listed in intensive care. The number of hospital staffers in self isolation after testing positive for the virus is below five.
There are currently no outbreaks at medical institutions, seniors' facilities or day care centres in the city or county. Recoveries reported over the past 24 hours have brought total resolved cases up to 12,328. Currently, there are 59 active cases in the region.
The number of cases involving variants of concern in London and Middlesex County has gone up to 3,497. The majority of variants identified in the area are the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) strain from the U.K. However, the health unit is seeing more cases of the Delta variant or sublineages of it emerge locally with a total of 37.
The number of new cases in Elgin and Oxford counties went from three to none on Thursday. Southwestern Public Health's total caseload remains at 3,895. There were no COVID-19 related deaths in the region leaving the death toll at 83. The total number of resolved cases stands at 3,796 and there are 16 known active cases locally.
Provincially, new infections climbed above 200 for the first time this week.
Public health officials said there were 210 new cases on Thursday. That is an increase from the 194 logged on Wednesday, the 164 recorded on Tuesday, and the 164 reported Monday.
Regions with the most new cases were Waterloo with 52, Peel with 23, and Hamilton with 19.
The province’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 546,621.
According to the province’s daily epidemiologic summary, Ontario identified 231 cases of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant over the past 24 hours for a total of 144,569. Forty-six more cases of the P.1 (Gamma) variant were found for a total of 4,696, while the number of new cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) variant went up by 16 for a total of 1,436. There were 63 new cases involving the B.1.617 (Delta) variant for a total of 2,285.
Four deaths were reported on Thursday, to increase the province’s death toll to 9,228.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are seven fewer people admitted with COVID-19. Of those in hospital, 215 are in intensive care and 145 are on ventilators.
The number of resolved cases rose by 231 to 535,577. There are currently 1,816 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, more than 25,857 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 0.8 per cent.
The province has administered 16,395,063 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of Wednesday night. More than half of all adults in Ontario have also now received their second dose of the vaccine to be considered fully inoculated.
