There are currently more people in London hospital with COVID-19 than at any other point during the pandemic.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported on Tuesday that it currently has 107 inpatients with the virus, up from 89 the previous day. The total surpasses the hospital network’s previous record of 99 COVID-19 positive inpatients, which was set in early May. Twenty-one of the 107 patients are listed in intensive care (unchanged from Monday) and five or fewer are in the care of Children’s Hospital.
LHSC officials specified that of its inpatients who are positive for COVID-19, 71 are being treated for the virus. The remaining 36 are being treated for other ailments but have also tested positive for COVID-19.
The number of hospital employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 is up to 468 from 434 on Monday.
Both Victoria Hospital and University Hospital continue to deal with outbreaks. The first was declared on December 31 on the Adult Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit at the south-end hospital. The other was declared a day later on 7IP Clinical Neurosciences at the north-end hospital. In total, there are 19 patient cases and approximately 35 confirmed or probable staff infections linked to the two outbreaks.
In the community, the Middlesex London Health Unit confirmed 260 new infections on Tuesday. That is up from 223 on Monday, but down from 245 on Sunday. Single-day case counts in the region have been below 500 for five consecutive days. However, changes by the provincial government to testing eligibility has led to the figures being considered an underestimate of community spread.
The area’s total case count since the pandemic began stands at 24,566.
The region’s death toll remained at 263 on Tuesday, unchanged from the previous day.
Resolved cases are up by 482 to 20,023. There are currently 4,4280 active cases locally, down 216 from Monday.
As of Saturday, there have been 985,822 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in the region, which works out to 91.9 per cent of all area residents aged 12 and older having received at least one dose. The percentage of the local population to receive both doses is currently 89.5 Since eligibility for the shot opened up to kids aged 5 to 11 in late November, 50.9 per cent of children in that age group have received their first dose.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there were 78 more infections confirmed on Tuesday. That brings Southwestern Public Health’s total number of confirmed infections since the start of the pandemic to 8,616. There were three additional COVID-19 related deaths, to bring the death toll up to 122. Resolved cases rose to 7,112 with 1,382 known active cases remaining in the area.
Ontario recorded another increase in the number of people with COVID-19 in hospital on Tuesday.
According to public health officials, there are 3,220 COVID-19 positive inpatients being treated in hospitals across the province. That is up from 2,497 on Monday. For the first time, the province further broke down the hospitalization numbers to identify how many patients were specifically there because of the virus. The province confirmed roughly 54 per cent were admitted to hospital because of COVID-19. The remaining 46 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.
As of Tuesday, there are 477 COVID-19 positive people in intensive care, 83 per cent of whom were admitted because of the virus.
Ontario logged 7,951 new cases on Monday. The single-day tally has become less relevant since the provincial government restricted eligibility for publicly-funded COVID-19 tests. At the end of December, it was announced PCR testing would only be available for high-risk individuals who are symptomatic or are at risk of severe illness from COVID-19, meaning many infected have no way to have their diagnosis confirmed.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 896,248.
There were 21 additional deaths reported, bringing the provincial death toll from the virus to 10,399.
The number of resolved cases rose by 9,893 to 747,289. There are currently 138,560 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, 45,451 COVID-19 tests were processed. The province’s positivity rate is now 24.4 per cent.
To date, the province has administered 28,693,247 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 88.5 per cent of people 12 and older having received both shots required to be fully inoculated. More than 4.8 million people have received a booster shot.
