The London region recorded another COVID-19 related death and a rise in the number of infected people in hospital on Tuesday.
The Middlesex London Health Unit said a man in his 80s who was not associated with a long-term care or retirement home is the latest person to succumb to the virus. His death brings the local death toll up to 401.
Another 15 new COVID-19 infections were logged on Tuesday. That is up from four on Monday. The new infections bring the total case count since March 2020 to 38,444. Daily case tallies have been considered an underestimate of community spread because of limits placed on testing eligibility at the end of last year. Recoveries rose to 37,869. The health unit said there are 174 known active cases of the virus in the region, down 18 from Monday.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported it has 24 patients admitted to hospital with the virus. That is up four from Monday. The number of COVID-19 positive people in hospital has been in the low to mid 20s since the start of the month.
LHSC officials specified that 13 of the 24 COVID-19 positive patients currently admitted are being treated for the virus. The remaining 11 are being treated for other ailments but have also tested positive for COVID-19.
Admissions to the intensive care unit held at five or fewer over the past 24 hours. Children’s Hospital has five or fewer COVID-19 positive patients in its care, unchanged since Monday. None of those patients are listed in paediatric critical care.
The number of workers who have tested positive also saw no change on Tuesday. The LHSC reported 51 infected staffers. At this time last week there were 76 workers sick.
The vaccination rate in London and Middlesex County was virtually unchanged from last week. The latest figures released by the health unit show 93.9 per cent of area residents aged 12 and older have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 91.9 per cent in the same age bracket have had two doses. Third and fourth doses have been administered to 57.1 per cent and 10.2 per cent of area residents.
As of Saturday, there have been 1,175,031 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. Its next update will be released on Wednesday.
Ontario has shifted to a weekly reporting system and will release the COVID-19 data, including new cases, deaths, and hospitalizations on Thursday.
