The London region's daily tally of new COVID-19 cases has exceeded ten for the second time this week.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged 15 new infections on Thursday, up from five the previous day but matching the 15 recorded on Monday. So far this month, there have been five days in which the number of new infections recorded was above 10.
The total number of cases locally since the pandemic began is now 12,899, according to the health unit.
It has now been nearly two weeks since a COVID-19 related death was reported in London or Middlesex County. That leaves the death toll unchanged at 231.
Hospitalizations in the area are unchanged with six COVID-19 patients admitted to the London Health Sciences Centre. There are currently five COVID-19 patients listed in intensive care and fewer than five staffers have tested positive.
An outbreak remains at Pond Mills Children's Centre, while area medical institutions and seniors’ facilities are outbreak free. The number of resolved cases is up to 12,590. Currently, there are 78 active cases in the region, up eight over the previous day.
The number of cases involving variants of concern in London and Middlesex County has gone up by two to 3,663. The majority of variants identified in the area are the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) strain from the U.K. However, both of the latest variants of concern to be identified were of the Delta variant for a total of 156.
Of the 306 new COVID-19 cases to be reported in the region over the past six weeks, 91.5 per cent were among people who were not yet fully vaccinated against the virus. As of August 7, 81.4 per cent of all local residents 12 and older have received one dose of the vaccine and 69.7 per cent have been given both shots. On Wednesday, Western University announced it would require anyone coming to campus in the fall to show proof of vaccination. Those who don't will have to complete a COVID-19 test twice a week.
Five new COVID-19 cases were logged Thursday in Elgin and Oxford counties, down from seven on Wednesday. Southwestern Public Health’s total caseload has now increased to 4,007. The death toll remained at 84, with no additional COVID-19 deaths reported. The total number of resolved cases stands at 3,897 and there are 26 known active cases locally.
Provincially, the daily number of COVID-19 cases shot above 500 for the first time in two months.
Public health officials said there were 513 new cases on Thursday. That is up from the 324 infections logged on Wednesday, 321 cases on Tuesday, and 325 cases on Monday. The last time the daily case count was above 500 was on June 13, when 530 new infections were recorded.
Of the 513 new cases identified on Thursday, 360 were among unvaccinated individuals and 56 were people who were partially vaccinated.
Regions with the most new cases over the past 24 hours were Toronto with 105, York Region with 70, Peel Region with 64, and Durham with 44.
The province’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 553,962.
According to the province’s daily epidemiologic summary, Ontario identified nine new cases of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant over the past 24 hours for a total of 145,641. Cases of the P.1 (Gamma) variant went down by one to 5,176, while the number of new cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) variant was unchanged with 1,493 total. There were 148 new cases involving the B.1.617 (Delta) variant for a total of 5,873.
No additional deaths related to the virus were reported on Thursday, leaving the province's death toll at 9,412.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are 116 people with COVID-19, with 113 in intensive care and 76 on ventilators. Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, 106 are not fully vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown.
The number of resolved cases rose by 256 to 541,682. There are currently 2,868 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, just under 22,900 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate has gone up to 2.1 per cent.
The province has administered more than 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of Wednesday night. There are more than 9.4 million people in Ontario who have now received the second dose of the vaccine to be considered fully inoculated.
