COVID-19 hospitalizations in London decreased on Tuesday, as ICU admissions and the local death toll went up.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported it has 50 patients admitted to hospital with the virus. That is down by nine compared to Monday. LHSC officials specified that 25 of the COVID-19 positive patients currently admitted are being treated for the virus. The other 25 are being treated for other ailments but have also tested positive for COVID-19.
Admissions to the intensive care unit increased to six, up from five or fewer on Monday. Children’s Hospital currently has eight COVID-19 positive patients in its care, including five or fewer in paediatric critical care. That is down two over the past 24 hours.
The number of workers who have tested positive also saw a decrease on Tuesday. The LHSC reported 234 infected staffers, a drop of six.
An outbreak has been declared on Victoria Hospital’s C6-300 sub-acute medicine unit.
There were 73 new COVID-19 infections logged in London and Middlesex County on Tuesday, according to the Middlesex London Health Unit. That is up from just 30 on Monday. The new infections bring the total case count since March 2020 to 36,556. Daily case tallies have been considered an underestimate of community spread because of limits placed on testing eligibility at the end of last year.
There was one additional COVID-19 death recorded in London or Middlesex County – a woman in her 90s. She was not associated with a long-term care or retirement home, the health unit said. The local death toll currently stands at 373.
The health unit said there are 900 known active cases of the virus in the region, down 53 from Monday.
There was little change to the local vaccination rate over the past week. The latest figures released by the health unit show 93.7 per cent of area residents aged 12 and older who have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 91.7 per cent in the same age bracket have had two doses. Third and fourth doses have been administered to 56.2 per cent and 1.5 per cent of area residents.
As of Saturday, there have been 1,141,005 doses administered locally since December 2020.
Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for Elgin and Oxford counties, does not update its COVID-19 cases dashboard on Tuesdays. Its next update will be released on Wednesday.
The number of people with COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals rose again on Tuesday.
According to public health officials, there are 1,730 COVID-19 positive inpatients being treated in hospitals across the province. That is up by 275 compared to figures released on Monday. At this time last week, there were 1,486 people hospitalized with the virus.
The provincial breakdown of hospitalization numbers shows roughly 45.5 per cent were admitted to hospital because of COVID-19. The remaining 54.5 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.
The number of COVID-19 positive people admitted to intensive care was unchanged at 219. Last Tuesday, there were 206 people in the ICU.
Ontario logged 1,827 new cases Tuesday. However, the single-day tally is less relevant since the provincial government restricted eligibility for publicly-funded COVID-19 tests. Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 1,246,013.
There were 14 additional deaths from the virus reported over the past 24 hours. Thirteen of the deaths occurred within the past month, while one occurred more than a month ago. The total death toll from the virus in Ontario now stands at 12,750.
Public health officials confirmed there were 13,451 COVID-19 tests processed over the past 24 hours. The test positivity rate is now 13.2 per cent, down from 17.9 per cent a week ago.
To date, the province has administered 32,627,619 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 91.1 per cent of people 12 and older having received two doses. More than 7.2 million people have received a booster shot.
