With half of the month yet to come, the London area has seen more new cases of COVID-19 than in any month since the pandemic began.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported 53 new cases on Tuesday, matching the record number from Monday. December has now seen 526 new cases in London and Middlesex County, eclipsing the 502 cases that were reported in November.
No deaths were reported by the health unit on Tuesday. However, the London Health Sciences Centre reported another death linked to the outbreak at University Hospital. The 16th death related to the outbreak is expected to be included in Wednesday's report from the health unit.
There are 36 patients with COVID-19 being treated at the London Health Sciences Centre.
London and Middlesex County have reported a total of 2,174 cases of the virus since March. Of those, 1,776 are considered resolved. A total of 80 deaths have been reported by the health unit.
Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for Elgin and Oxford counties, reported 15 new cases Tuesday for a total of 781 since March. One death was reported Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 10.
Provincially, Tuesday was another record setting day for new COVID-19 cases. Provincial officials reported 2,275 new cases, breaking the 2,000 mark for the first time. Officials noted, though, that a change in reporting might account for some of the results.
Until Monday, the province would collect numbers from local health units at 10:30 a.m. But data extraction was moved to 1 p.m. Monday, so there were 2.5 extra hours of collection time in the latest report.
Another 20 people died as well, bringing Ontario’s death toll since March to 3,992.
Across Ontario, there are 921 people receiving treatment for the virus in the hospital. Of those, 249 are currently in intensive care units, and 156 are on ventilators.
The province processed 39,566 tests for COVID-19 on Monday.
As of Tuesday morning, 85.4 per cent of all cases, now numbering 144,396 since the start of the pandemic, are considered resolved.
