For the fourth time this month, the number of new COVID-19 cases recorded in the London-area has climbed into the double-digits.
The Middlesex London Health Unit logged 15 new infections on Tuesday, up from seven on Monday and 11 on Sunday. The only other days so far in August where daily case numbers exceeded nine was on August 1 when 11 cases were reported and on August 6 when there were 16 confirmed cases. The local total number of cases since the pandemic began is now 12,878.
The area death toll is unchanged at 231, with no additional COVID-19 related deaths reported since July 30.
Recoveries are up by seven to bring the total number of resolved cases to 12,576. There are currently 71 active cases.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) currently has seven inpatients with COVID-19 in its care, the same number as was reported on Monday. Five of those patients are listed in intensive care and fewer than five hospital workers have become sick.
Another 14 cases have been identified as variants of concern for a total of 3,661. There are 3,381 variants of concern that have been confirmed as the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) strain and 120 have tested positive as the P.1. (Gamma) variant. The region has also had 140 cases of the B.1.617 (Delta) variant and two cases of the B.1.351 (Beta) strain. There are 188 cases that have tested positive for a mutation.
As of Saturday, there have been 679,820 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in the region, which works out to 81.4 per cent of all area residents aged 12 and older having received at least one dose. The percentage of the local population to receive both doses is currently 69.7.
Of the 302 people who have contracted the virus since June 29 locally, 66.2 per cent were not vaccinated, 23.6 per cent were partially vaccinated, and 7.5 per cent were fully vaccinated. Another 2.6 per cent had the shot but it had not yet begun offering protection. None of the people who died during that six-week period had received a single dose of the vaccine.
In Elgin and Oxford counties, there were four new cases reported Tuesday. That brings Southwestern Public Health’s total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 3,995. There has not been a COVID-19 related death in the region since July 14, leaving the death toll unchanged at 84. Resolved cases rose to 3,881 with 30 known active cases in the two counties remaining. Roughly 79.7 per cent of area residents aged 12 and older have had one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 67.7 per cent have received both doses.
Ontario’s daily COVID-19 caseload remained above 300 for a fifth straight day.
Public health officials logged 321 new infections on Tuesday. That is a decrease from 325 cases on Monday and 423 cases on Sunday.
Toronto had the province’s highest daily number of cases over the past 24 hours with 96, followed by Peel Region with 31, and York Region with 30.
Ontario’s total case count since the start of the pandemic now stands at 553,125.
There were two additional deaths reported Tuesday. The provincial death toll is now 9,409.
There are currently 100 people with COVID-19 being treated at Ontario hospitals, an increase of six since Monday. COVID-19 related admissions to the intensive care unit are down by four to 113 and there are 72 people breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.
As of Tuesday, the province has started including information about vaccination status of new cases and hospitalizations on its COVID-19 dashboard.
"As Dr. Moore [Ontario's chief medical officer of health] said, thanks to the many Ontarians who got their COVID19 vaccine, growing case counts will not mean the same thing as before," Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted. "Hospitalizations and ICU admissions will be especially critical in monitoring Ontario's COVID-19 response. That is why, starting today, we are updating our reporting to focus on the key indicators to be monitored as we head into the fall."
Preliminary figures show, 67 per cent of the new cases were among the unvaccinated, 14 per cent were partially vaccinated, and 20 per cent were in the fully vaccinated. Of those in hospital with the virus, 94 per cent had not received a single dose of the vaccine.
The number of resolved cases rose by 200 to 541,222. There are currently 2,494 active cases of the virus in Ontario.
In the last 24 hour period, just under 16,500 COVID-19 tests were processed. That is up from 15,805 the previous day and brings the province’s positivity rate to 1.7 per cent.
To date, the province has administered over 19.9 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with more than 9.3 million people having received both shots required to be fully inoculated.