The number of people in London hospital with COVID-19 went up for the first time in two days on Friday.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) confirmed 40 inpatients with the virus are currently in its care, an increase of five since Thursday. The hospital network noted 16 of the 40 infected inpatients were admitted for treatment of the virus. The 24 others came to the hospital for other reasons and tested positive for the virus. COVID-19 hospitalizations at the LHSC have ranged from the mid-30s to low-40s all month.
The hospital network has five or fewer patients with COVID listed in intensive care, down from six on Thursday. Children’s Hospital has five or fewer inpatients with the virus, including five or fewer listed in paediatric critical care.
The number of infected hospital workers continued to trend down on Friday. The LHSC said there are currently 75 employees who have tested positive, a decrease of two from the previous day. At this time last week, there were 123 infected workers.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged another 59 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, up from 30 the previous day. The health unit continues to note that single-day case counts are likely an underestimate of the true number of people in the region with the virus, due to limited testing eligibility. The total number of confirmed infections in the region since the pandemic began is now 38,057.
For a second straight day, there were no additional deaths linked to the virus. That leaves the death toll in London and Middlesex County unchanged at 391.
The number of resolved cases rose to 37,286. There are 380 known active cases in the region, up ten over the past 24 hours
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there were 30 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the region, said that brings the local total number of cases to 13,883 with 13,589 resolved. There were no additional COVID-19 deaths locally, leaving the death toll at 168. There are currently 126 known active cases in the two counties.
Ontario saw another drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations, but a rise in the death toll on Friday.
There are currently 948 people in hospitals in Ontario with the virus, down 21 since Thursday. At this time last week, 1,165 hospitalizations were reported across the province.
Of the 948 people in hospital Friday, roughly 41 per cent were admitted because of the virus, while 59 per cent were admitted for other reasons and tested positive for the virus.
In intensive care units, there are 154 patients with COVID-19, unchanged from figures reported Thursday.
Ontario logged 1,096 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours. Public health officials have cautioned the daily counts are an underestimate of the spread of the virus in the province due to limited PCR testing eligibility.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 1,299,874.
Public health officials confirmed 15 additional deaths over the past 24 hours, pushing the death toll up to 13,210. The province said 14 of the deaths occurred within the last month, while one that occurred more than a month ago was added to the count following a data cleanup.
The number of resolved cases are up by 1,576 to 1,274,661.
In the last 24 hour period, 13,316 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 8.4 per cent, down from 9.1 per cent a week ago.
To date, the province has administered 33,306,535 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 91.3 per cent of people 12 and older having received two shots. More than 7.3 million Ontarians or 57 per cent have received a third shot.
