While the number of people with COVID-19 in London hospital was unchanged on Wednesday, there was a slight increase in ICU admissions.
For the second consecutive day, the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported 50 patients with COVID-19 in its care. A week ago, there were 54 inpatients with the virus. The number of people with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit rose by one to seven. At Children’s Hospital there are eight infected inpatients, including five or fewer in paediatric critical care. That number is the same as was recorded on Tuesday.
The LHSC specified that, of the 50 COVID-19 patients at its hospitals, half are being treated for COVID-19, while the other half were admitted for other reasons but also have the virus.
The hospital network reported on Wednesday that it currently has 242 employees who have tested positive for the virus. That is up eight from Tuesday, but down 40 from a week ago.
Another 127 COVID-19 cases were logged on Wednesday, up from 73 the previous day. There were no additional deaths linked to the virus recorded, leaving the local death toll unchanged at 373. Resolved cases increased to 35,392, leaving the number of known active cases locally at 917. 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 54 more COVID-19 cases since last Wednesday, increasing the local case count since the pandemic began to 13,191. Three deaths were recorded over the past week, increasing the death toll to 161. Resolved cases rose to 12,662 and there are now 368 known active cases in the two counties.
COVID-19 hospitalizations remained above 1,700 for a second straight day on Wednesday.
A total of 1,734 people infected with the virus are currently in hospitals across the province. That is an increase of four from Tuesday. At this time last week, there were 1,662 COVID-19 positive people in the hospital. Forty-five per cent of the people in hospital on Wednesday were admitted because of the virus, while 55 per cent were there for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.
Of those in hospital, 211 are in the ICU, down eight from the previous day.
According to public health officials, there were 22 additional deaths related to the virus on Wednesday. All 22 occurred within the last month. The official death toll now stands at 12,772.
The province recorded 3,005 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 1,249,018.
Resolved cases across the province are up by 4,055 to 1,204,571.
In the last 24 hour period, 23,230 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is currently 15.2 per cent, down from 16.8 a week ago.
The province has administered 32,661,787 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday night. Figures show 91.1 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received both doses of the vaccine. There are more than 7.2 million people in the province who have received their third shot.
