The number of people with COVID-19 in London hospitals rose slightly on Thursday.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported it has 44 inpatients with the virus, an increase of two over the previous 24 hours. Of the 44 people currently in hospital, there are 15 being treated for COVID-19 and 29 being treated for other ailments but who have also tested positive for the virus.
COVID-19 admissions to the intensive care unit remained at five or fewer for a third straight day. There are also five or fewer COVID-19 patients in the care of Children’s Hospital.
For a third consecutive day the LHSC did not provide an updated number of workers who have tested positive for the virus, stating it is “currently validating its data.” On Monday, the hospital network reported that it had 232 COVID positive staffers, a number that had been on a steady rise for more than a week.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged 67 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 31,945 according to the health unit.
The local death toll was unchanged at 350.
The number of resolved cases is up to 31,021. Currently, there are 574 known active cases in the region, down two from the previous day.
Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for Elgin and Oxford counties, does not update its COVID-19 cases dashboard on Thursdays. Its next update will be released on Friday.
Provincially, hospitalizations hit a low not seen since late December on Thursday.
The latest figures released by the province show there are 834 people with COVID-19 admitted to hospitals in Ontario. That is down 13 since Wednesday and is the second straight day hospitalizations have been below 900. The provincial breakdown of hospitalization numbers showing how many people were admitted because of COVID-19 and how many were being treated for other reasons but also have the virus was not provided.
There are 267 people in intensive care units across the province, down six from Wednesday.
Public health officials said there were 2,262 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 1,107,408.
Nineteen additional deaths related to the virus were reported on Thursday, to bring the death toll up to 12,497. The province said 17 of the latest deaths occurred over the past month and two occurred more than a month ago.
The number of resolved cases rose by 2,293 to 1,077,985.
In the last 24 hour period, 16,606 tests COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 10.2 per cent, up from 9.7 per cent a week ago.
The province has administered 31,736,824 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of Wednesday night. Nearly 93 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received one dose of the vaccine, while 90.6 per cent have been given a second dose. More than 7 million booster shots have been administered.
Read original story from London Ontario – BlackburnNews.com