The number of active COVID-19 cases in the London region has shot above 250 for the first time since the end of August.
According to the Middlesex London Health Unit, there are 255 active cases locally as of Monday. The active case count last broke the 250 threshold on August 30 when 251 active infections were on the books.
The increase in active cases comes as the city and county logged 36 new cases Monday, 37 on Sunday, and 38 on Saturday. The health unit released three days worth of COVID-19 data on Monday as it no longer updates its online dashboard on weekends.
The area’s total case count stands at 15,088 since the pandemic began.
The death toll remained unchanged at 252. It has now been two weeks since there has been a COVID-19 related death in the region.
Resolved cases are up by 51 to 14,581.
Outbreaks have been declared at five London schools since Friday - Blessed Sacrament Elementary, St. Marguerite D'Youville Elementary, St. Mary Choir and Orchestra Catholic, Tecumseh Public, and West Oaks French Immersion Public. All five schools remain open, with only those identified as close contacts of the infected being asked to stay home and isolate. Western University’s Saugeen-Maitland Hall and Fanshawe College’s Merlin House Residence have been dealing with outbreaks for just over a week.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is reporting 12 patients with COVID-19 in its care, down one from Friday. Five or fewer of the patients in the care of the LHSC are listed in intensive care and five or fewer are at Children’s Hospital. The LHSC currently has five or fewer staffers who have tested positive for the virus.
Of the 622 people in the London region who have contracted the virus over the past six weeks, 43.3per cent were not vaccinated, 2.8 per cent were partially vaccinated, 0.8 per cent had received the vaccine but it had not yet taken effect, and 52.9 per cent were fully vaccinated. The unvaccinated or partially vaccinated account for 49.9 per cent of local hospitalizations.
The number of new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Elgin and Oxford counties was 85 on Monday. That number includes infections identified both Saturday and Sunday, as Southwestern Public Health does not update its COVID-19 dashboard on weekends. The latest cases bring the two counties total case count to 5,523. There was one additional death recorded, to bring the death toll up to 101. The health unit said the total number of resolved cases in the area is 5,220, leaving 202 known active cases. As of Sunday, 85.1 per cent of all people in the two counties 12 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 82.8 per cent have been given both shots. More than 3,700 children aged 5 to 11 have now received their first dose of the vaccine in the two counties.
Provincially, the number of new COVID-19 cases fell back below 900 for the first time in five days.
Public health officials reported 887 new infections on Monday. That is down from 1,184 on Sunday, 1,053 on Saturday, 1,031 last Friday, and 959 last Thursday. The latest cases put Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic to 624,384.
Of the 887 cases recorded over the past 24 hours, 373 were reportedly among unvaccinated people, 25 involved partially vaccinated people, and 426 were fully vaccinated people. There were 64 COVID-positive individuals whose vaccination status was not known.
Three additional COVID-19 related deaths were reported on Monday, increasing the death toll to 10,027.
At hospitals in Ontario, there are 137 patients with COVID-19. The total number of patients in the intensive care unit is at 168 and the number of patients on ventilators stands at 149.
The number of resolved cases rose by 560 to 605,918. There are currently 8,439 known active cases of the virus in Ontario.
The province processed 25,981 COVID-19 tests in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate is currently 3.5 per cent.
There have been 24,015,833 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in Ontario as of Sunday night. Over 90 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received one dose of the vaccine, while 87.3 per cent have been given their second dose to be considered fully inoculated. More than 820,000 eligible people have received a booster dose of the vaccine.