There was a significant increase in the number of children with COVID-19 being treated in London hospital over the weekend.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) said on Monday it has 10 inpatients with the virus currently admitted to Children’s Hospital. That is at least double from a reported “five or fewer” that were listed at Children’s on Friday. Five or fewer of the COVID-19 positive children in hospital are listed in paediatric critical care.
The LHSC has a total of 89 inpatients being treated for COVID-19, up two over the past 72 hours. According to the hospital officials, 48 of the COVID positive inpatients are being treated for the virus, while the remaining 41 are being treated for other ailments but have tested positive for COVID.
The intensive care unit has 17 inpatients with COVID-19, down three since Friday. It is the first time since early January ICU admissions have been this low. At this time last week there were 25 people with the virus in intensive care in London.
There are 136 hospital workers who have tested positive for COVID-19, down from 140 on Friday. Employee cases at the LHSC have been falling since hitting a record high of 512 cases on January 12
The Middlesex London Health Unit recorded four additional COVID-19 deaths and 257 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend.
Three of the latest deaths were reported Saturday, while the fourth was recorded on Sunday. There were no additional deaths added to the count on Monday. The local death toll since the pandemic began is now 331, with 31 of those deaths occurring this month.
There were 64 new cases recorded on Monday, 80 new cases on Sunday, and 113 new cases on Saturday. However, public health officials caution that single-day case numbers are an underestimate of community spread due to eligibility changes that limit who can receive a test.
The area’s total case count stands at 30,886 since the pandemic began.
Resolved cases are up by 286 to 29,154. The number of active cases locally went down by 27 since Friday to 1,381 on Monday.
Southwestern Public Health, the health unit that covers Elgin and Oxford counties, reported 104 new cases since Friday. The latest cases bring the two counties total case count to 10,862. There were no additional deaths recorded, leaving the death toll unchanged at 147. The health unit said the total number of resolved cases in the area is 10,321, leaving 394 known active cases.
Provincially, the number of people with COVID-19 in intensive care has hit a low not seen since early January.
There are currently 1,369 people with the virus in hospital, down 171 since Sunday. Intensive care unit (ICU) admissions decreased by eight to 394. It is the first time since the start of the year ICU numbers have fallen below 400. The figures could be higher than reported though as not all hospitals release current numbers over the weekend, Health Minister Christine Elliott reminded.
The drop in hospitalizations across Ontario came on the same day the provincial government announced it would enter the next phase of its reopening plan four days earlier than expected. Premier Doug Ford said the province will enter step two of its COVID-19 reopening plan, which eliminates all capacity restrictions at restaurants, bars, theatres, and gyms, as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, instead of next Monday. He also announced Ontario’s proof of vaccination certificate program will end on March 1.
“Given how well Ontario has done in the Omicron wave we are able to fast track our reopening plan,” said Ford. “This is great news and a sign of just how far we’ve come together in our fight against the virus. While we aren’t out of the woods just yet we are moving in the right direction.”
Masking requirements will remain in place for the time being, the province said.
Ontario logged 1,756 new infections over the past 24 hours. But single-day case counts are considered to be an underestimation of community spread as the Ford government restricted eligibility for publicly-funded COVID-19 tests at the end of December. The latest cases put Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic to 1,074,485.
Public health officials confirmed eight additional COVID-19 deaths on Monday that occurred over the past month. The provincial death toll since the pandemic began nearly two years ago now stands at 12,101.
The number of resolved cases are up by 2,619 to 1,036,214.
In the last 24 hour period, 9,962 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 13 per cent, down from 14.2 per cent at this time last week.
There have been 31,303,825 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in Ontario as of Sunday night. Just over 92 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received one dose of the vaccine, while 90 per cent have been given their second dose. To date, more than 6.7 million Ontarians have received a booster shot.
