Both the COVID-19 death toll and number of people in hospital with the virus in the London region saw an increase over the long weekend.
The Middlesex London Health Unit confirmed that since Friday there have been four COVID-19 deaths in the city and county. All four deaths were recorded on Saturday with none reported Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. The latest four deaths bring the local death toll up to 341. Of those deaths, 41 occurred this month, and put February 2022 in line to be among the most deadly of the pandemic. Last month was the second deadliest of the pandemic with 46 deaths recorded, it was only surpassed by January 2021 when 71 people succumbed to the virus.
The number of people in London hospitals with COVID-19 went up by eight to 64, according to figures from the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). That is still less than the 79 people that were reportedly in hospital with COVID-19 at this time last week. Admissions to the intensive care unit were down by five on Tuesday to nine. Children’s Hospital currently has seven COVID-19 positive patients in its care.
LHSC officials specified that 28 of the COVID-19 positive patients are being treated for the virus. The other 36 are being treated for other ailments but have also tested positive for COVID-19.
The number of hospital employees who have currently tested positive for COVID-19 is up by seven since Friday to 151.
There were 190 new COVID-19 infections logged in London and Middlesex County over the past four days – 48 Saturday, 69 Sunday, 44 Monday, and 29 Tuesday. Those cases bring the total case count since March 2020 to 31,379. Daily case tallies have been considered an underestimate of community spread because of limits placed on testing eligibility at the end of last year. Resolved cases are up to 30,135 and there are currently 903 active cases locally. The number of active cases in London and Middlesex has not been this low since December 20 when there were 857 active cases.
New figures released by the health unit on Tuesday show 93.3 per cent of area residents aged 12 and older have now received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 91.2 per cent in the same age bracket have had two doses. People aged 70 to 74 are leading for most booster shots received with 84.6 per cent having got their third dose.
As of Saturday, there have been 1,099,863 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. It’s next update will be released on Wednesday.
Ontario saw the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions fall again on Tuesday.
According to public health officials, there are 1,038 COVID-19 positive inpatients being treated in hospitals across the province. That is down from 1,064 on Monday. The provincial breakdown of hospitalization numbers showing how many people were admitted because of COVID-19 and how many were being treated for other reasons but also have the virus was not provided.
As of Tuesday, one fewer COVID-19 positive person was in intensive care for a total of 319.
Ontario logged 1,282 new cases Tuesday and 1,335 on Monday. The single-day tally has become 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 1,090,101.
There were nine additional deaths from the virus reported on Tuesday and 15 reported on Monday. The total death toll from the virus in Ontario now stands at 12,288.
Public health officials confirmed there were 15,365 COVID-19 tests processed over the past 24 hours. The test positivity rate is now 6.9, down from 11.9 per cent a week ago.
To date, the province has administered 31,329,083 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 90.4 per cent of people 12 and older having received two doses. More than 6.8 million people have received a booster shot.
