The London region has recorded its first COVID-19 related death of the new year.
The Middlesex London Health Unit confirmed Wednesday that two men in their 80s and two women in their 70s and 80s, succumbed to the virus over the past two weeks. One of the deaths occurred since Sunday and is the first one recorded in 2023. There have now been 508 COVID-19 deaths locally since the pandemic began in 2020.
Another 415 new cases of the virus have been confirmed by the health unit since it last updated its COVID-19 dashboard on December 20. However, public health officials caution that case numbers posted to the dashboard are an underestimate of community spread due to PCR testing being limited to individuals who live or work in high risk settings including long-term care and retirement homes, hospitals and other congregate living settings. The area’s total case count since March 2020 stands at 46,898.
The number of active cases locally has increased by 72 to 411 over the past two weeks.
The health unit’s next scheduled COVID-19 update will be next Tuesday.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reported it has 48 patients with the virus in its care. According to hospital officials, just 10 of the current inpatients are being treated for the virus, while the remaining 38 are being treated for other ailments but have tested positive for COVID.
The intensive care unit has seven infected patients. There are also five or fewer patients with COVID-19 at Children’s Hospital, including five or fewer admitted to paediatric critical care.
The number of hospital workers who have tested positive is currently at 54, up eight since the end of December.
There is just one level two COVID-19 and Influenza A outbreak at the LHSC.
