The number of people in London hospital with COVID-19 has more than doubled since Friday.
The London Health Sciences Centre reported on Tuesday that it currently has 59 inpatients with the virus. That is up from 28 on New Year’s Eve. Ten of those patients are listed in intensive care (up from nine) and five or fewer are in the care of Children’s Hospital.
The biggest jump in numbers from the LHSC was in the number of hospital employees who have tested positive for COVID-19. It is up to 210 from 152 five days ago.
Both Victoria Hospital and University Hospital are dealing with outbreaks. The first was declared on December 31 on the Adult Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit at the south-end hospital. The other was declared a day later on 7IP Clinical Neurosciences at the north-end hospital.
The increase in hospitalizations comes as COVID-19 cases across London and Middlesex continue to soar.
The Middlesex London Health Unit confirmed 544 new infections Tuesday. That is up from 486 on Monday and 536 on Sunday. Single-day case counts in the region have been above 350 for a week, reaching an all-time high of 638 on December 31.
The area’s total case count since the pandemic began stands at 21,784.
The region’s death toll remained at 259 on Tuesday, unchanged from the previous day.
Resolved cases are up by 404 to 17,304. There are currently 4,221 active cases locally, up 139 from Monday.
There are ongoing outbreaks at 21 local long-term care and seniors’ residences.
As of Saturday, there have been 950,393 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in the region, which works out to 91.5 per cent of all area residents aged 12 and older having received at least one dose. The percentage of the local population to receive both doses is currently 89.1 Since eligibility for the shot opened up to kids aged 5 to 11 in late November, 47.6 per cent of children in that age group have received their first dose.
The Middlesex-London Paramedic Service continues to operate a mobile COVID-19 booster clinic throughout Middlesex County. It will make stops in Dorchester, Lucan, Kerwood, Alisa Craig, Ilderton, and Melbourne next week. To see the full list click here.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there were 169 more infections confirmed on Tuesday. That brings Southwestern Public Health’s total number of confirmed infections since the start of the pandemic to 7,725. There was one additional COVID-19 related death, to bring the death toll up to 114. Resolved cases rose to 6,232 with 1,379 known active cases remaining in the area.
Ontario recorded another 11,352 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
The latest daily case count is down from 13,578 on Monday and 16,714 on Sunday. Single-day tally has been decreasing since the provincial government restricted eligibility for publicly-funded COVID-19 tests. Last Thursday, it was announced PCR testing would only be available for high-risk individuals who are symptomatic or are at risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
Of the 11,352 new cases, 1,647 of the infections reported were among those who had not had a single shot. The partially vaccinated makeup 445 of the new cases, and there were 9,040 cases involving the fully vaccinated. Another 219 of the cases involved individuals whose vaccination status is unknown.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 816,450.
There were ten additional deaths reported, bringing the provincial death toll from the virus to 10,239.
There are currently 1,290 people with COVID-19 being treated at Ontario hospitals, up 58 from Monday. COVID-19 related admissions to intensive care units are up by 18 to 266. Hospitalizations are rising across the province due to the highly-transmissible Omicron variant. Premier Doug Ford said on Monday that 1 per cent of people who contract the virus will end up in hospital.
The number of resolved cases rose by 7,519 to 672,081. There are currently 134,130 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 49,737 COVID-19 tests were processed. The province’s positivity rate is now 30.9 per cent, up from 24.9 at this time last week.
To date, the province has administered 27,570,940 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with more than 11.4 million people having received both shots required to be fully inoculated. More than 3,8 million people have received a booster shot.
