There was another drop in the number of people with COVID-19 in London hospital on Wednesday.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported that it has four fewer patients with COVID-19 in its care than on Tuesday, for a total of 44 inpatients with the virus. The number of people with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit remained at five or fewer for a third consecutive day. Children’s Hospital has five or fewer patients with COVID-19, unchanged from Tuesday.
The LHSC specified that, of the 41 COVID-19 patients at its hospitals, 15 are being treated for COVID-19, while 26 were admitted for other reasons but also have the virus.
The hospital network reported on Wednesday that it currently has 140 COVID positive staffers, up from 130 the previous day.
A day after the Middlesex London Health Unit reported two women in their 80s had succumbed to the virus, there were no additional COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday. The total death toll for London and Middlesex County stands at 353 with four of those deaths occurring this month.
The health unit also confirmed 92 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, up from 62 the previous day and the highest number logged in a single day since February 24. Resolved cases increased to 31,389, leaving the number of active cases locally at 592. However, public health officials have said current case numbers are likely an underestimation of the true number of people with the virus due to eligibility changes for lab-based PCR testing.
Southwestern Public Health reported 61 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, increasing the local case count since the pandemic began to 11,417. The death toll was unchanged at 149. Resolved cases rose to 11,055 and there are now 213 known active cases in the two counties.
On the same day the Ontario government announced it would lift most masking requirements on March 21, nearly 30 more COVID-19 deaths were recorded.
According to public health officials, there were 27 additional deaths related to the virus on Wednesday. Twenty of the latest deaths occurred over the past 30 days. Seven other deaths occurred more than a month ago. The official death toll now stands at 12,618.
A total of 751 people infected with the virus are currently in hospitals across the province. That is down 28 from Tuesday. Forty-six per cent of the 751 people in hospital on Wednesday were admitted because of the virus, while 54 per cent were there for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.
Of those in hospital, 24 are in the ICU, down five from the previous day. Roughly 82 per cent of those in the ICU were admitted because of COVID-19, while the remaining 18 per cent are there for other reasons but also have the virus.
The province recorded 1,947 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, which is considered an underestimate of community spread. Daily case numbers are no longer thought to be a true reflection of spread of the virus in the province as the government has limited who is eligible for a free PCR test.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now sits at 1,117,439.
Resolved cases across the province are up by 1,951 to 1,088,615.
In the last 24 hour period, 17,571 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 10.9 per cent, down from 11.8 per cent a week ago.
The province has administered 31,821,019 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday night. About 90.7 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received both doses of the vaccine. There are more than 7 million people in the province who have now received the booster shot.
