For a fifth straight day, multiple COVID-19 related deaths have been recorded in the London region.
The Middlesex London Health Unit said on Friday three men in their 50s, 80s, and 90s succumbed to the virus. The two older men were associated with area long-term care homes. So far this month, there have been 13 COVID-19 deaths reported in London and Middlesex County. In January, there were 46 deaths recorded, making it the second deadliest month of the pandemic behind only January of 2021. The local death toll stands at 313.
Another 122 new cases were confirmed over the past 24 hours in the city and county, down from Thursday’s 189. However, the Middlesex London Health Unit has noted that single-day case counts are likely an underestimate of the true number of people in the region with the virus, due to changes made to testing eligibility.
The local total of confirmed infections since the pandemic began now sits at 29,792.
The number of resolved cases rose by 177 to 27,809. There are 1,670 known active cases in the region, down 65 over the past 24 hours.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has 138 COVID-19 inpatients in its care, down one from Thursday. Of those, 26 are listed in intensive care. That is up one over the past 24 hours.
The LHSC noted 86 of the 138 COVID-19 positive people in its care were admitted for treatment of the virus. The 52 remaining people came to the hospital for other reasons and tested positive for the virus.
The number of hospital staff who tested positive for the virus has gone down. There are now 169 employees infected, down 23 from Thursday. Cases among hospital staff have been on the decline since hitting a record 512 on January 12.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there were 146 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said that brings the local total number of cases to 10,444 with 9,697 resolved. The death toll has risen to 142 with two additional deaths recorded since Wednesday. There are currently 605 active cases in the two counties.
Ontario recorded another drop in the number of people with COVID-19 in hospital, including in the ICU, on Friday.
Public health officials confirmed there are currently 2,634 COVID-19 positive people in hospitals across the province. That is down 163 from the previous day. Of the 2,634, roughly 54 per cent were admitted because of the virus, while 46 per cent were admitted for other reasons and tested positive for the virus.
In intensive care units, there are 517 patients with COVID-19, down 24 from Thursday.
Ontario logged 4,047 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. Public health officials have cautioned the daily counts are an underestimate of the spread of the virus in the province due to limited PCR testing eligibility.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 1,047,970.
There were 60 additional deaths reported over the past 24 hours, increasing the provincial death toll to 11,711. The province said 58 of those deaths happened over the past 22 days and two were from more than a month ago.
The number of resolved cases are up by 5,622 to 998,238.
In the last 24 hour period, 50,432 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 12 per cent.
To date, the province has administered 30,882,982 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 89.4 per cent of people 12 and older having received two shots. More than 6.5 million Ontarians have received a booster shot.
