After two straight days with no increase to the COVID-19 death toll in the London-area, two additional deaths have been recorded.
The Middlesex London Health Unit said on Friday a man in his 80s and a woman in her 50s are the latest people locally to succumb to the virus. The woman was associated with an area long-term care facility. So far this month, there have been 37 COVID-19 deaths reported in London and Middlesex County, including a record high single-day death toll of seven recorded on February 10. The local death toll since the pandemic began currently stands at 337.
Another 85 new cases were confirmed over the past 24 hours in the city and county, down from 91 on Thursday. However, the Middlesex London Health Unit has noted that single-day case counts are likely an underestimate of the true number of people in the region with the virus, due to changes made to testing eligibility.
The local total of confirmed infections since the pandemic began now sits at 31,179.
The number of resolved cases rose by 121 to 29,674. There are 1,168 known active cases in the region, down 42 over the past 24 hours.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has 56 COVID-19 inpatients in its care, down by seven from Thursday. Hospitalization numbers in London have been steadily decreasing all week. Of those in London hospital, 14 are listed in intensive care. That is up by two over the past 24 hours.
The LHSC noted 27 of the 56 COVID-19 positive people in its care were admitted for treatment of the virus. The 29 remaining people came to the hospital for other reasons and tested positive for the virus.
The number of hospital staff who tested positive for the virus has gone up for the second straight day. There are now 144 employees infected, up eight from Thursday.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there were 55 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 10,967 with 10,491 resolved. The death toll was unchanged 145. There are currently 331 active cases in the two counties.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Ontario fell to a level not seen since early January on Friday.
Public health officials confirmed there are currently 1,281 COVID-19 positive people in hospitals across the province. That is down 61 from the previous day. Of the 1,281, roughly 51 per cent were admitted because of the virus, while 49 per cent were admitted for other reasons and tested positive for the virus.
In intensive care units, there are 352 patients with COVID-19, down four from Thursday.
Ontario logged 2,337 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. 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 1,083,274.
There were 33 additional deaths reported over the past 24 hours, pushing the death toll up to 12,237. The province said 30 of the latest deaths happened over the past month and three were from more than a month ago.
The number of resolved cases are up by 2,939 to 1,048,624.
In the last 24 hour period, 17,758 COVID-19 tests were processed. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 10.8 per cent.
To date, the province has administered 31,424,288 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 90.3 per cent of people 12 and older having received two shots. More than 6.8 million Ontarians have received a booster shot.
COVID-19 numbers will not be updated on Monday because of the Family Day provincial holiday.
