The single-day COVID-19 death toll in the London-area matched a record high on Thursday with seven deaths reported locally.
The Middlesex London Health Unit said four women, two in their 90s and two in their 80s, and three men, one in his 60s, one in his 80s and one in his 90s, are the latest to succumb to the virus. Three of the deceased were associated with area long-term care homes, the other four were not linked to any seniors’ facilities. The only other time during the pandemic when this many deaths were reported in a single day was on January 17, 2021.
There have now been 24 COVID-19 deaths recorded locally this month. The death toll since the pandemic began now stands at 324.
The health unit logged 115 new cases on Thursday. However, daily infection tallies aren’t as meaningful since the provincial government limited who can receive a free PCR test at the end of December. The total number of cases locally since March of 2020 is now 30,484 according to the health unit.
The number of resolved cases is up to 28,743. Currently, there are 1,417 known active cases in the region, down 14 from the previous day.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) confirmed on Thursday there are 91 people with COVID-19 admitted to its facilities. That is the fewest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the area in a month. Of the 91, there are 52 being treated for COVID-19 and 39 being treated for other ailments but who have also tested positive for the virus.
There was no change in the number of patients with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit. The LHSC reported 22 in the ICU on Thursday. There are six COVID-19 patients in the care of Children’s Hospital.
The number of hospital staff who have contracted the virus has gone up by ten over the past 24 hours to 151.
Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for Elgin and Oxford counties, no longer updates its COVID-19 cases dashboard on Thursdays. Its next update will be released on Friday.
Provincially, there was another decline in hospitalizations and ICU admissions.
The latest figures released by the province on Thursday show there are 1,897 people with COVID-19 admitted to hospitals in Ontario. That is down 162 since Wednesday. Of the COVID-19 positive people in hospital, roughly 56 per cent were admitted because of the virus, while around 44 per cent were initially brought in for some other reason and tested positive for COVID-19.
There are 445 people in intensive care units across the province, down four from Wednesday. Seventy-six per cent of the 445 patients in ICU are there because of the virus.
Public health officials said there were 3,201 new cases in Ontario on Thursday. Public health officials cautioned those numbers are considered an underestimate of the spread of the virus though, as eligibility for free PCR tests in Ontario have been extremely limited.
The province’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 1,064,604.
Forty-four additional deaths related to the virus were reported on Thursday, to bring the death toll up to 11,988. The province noted the latest deaths occurred over the past 24 days.
The number of resolved cases rose by 4,143 to 1,023,420.
In the last 24 hour period, 22,417 tests COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now around 11.2 per cent, down from 13.2 per cent a week ago.
The province has administered 31,153,087 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of Wednesday night. Just over 92 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received one dose of the vaccine, while 89.6 per cent have been given a second dose. More than 6.6 million booster shots have been administered.
