London-Middlesex did not see any new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, and the number of recoveries rose by six.
There are now 476 recoveries, while the total number of cases remains at 603. The death count holds firm at 57 — a tally that has not changed since late last week, according to the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU).
Overall, the London, Ont., area has seen 562 reported cases of COVID-19, while Strathroy-Caradoc has seen 21. Elsewhere, nine cases have been reported in Middlesex Centre, five in North Middlesex, four in Thames Centre and one each in Lucan Biddulph and Southwest Middlesex.
Saturday also marks the two-week mark of London Ont.’s Black Lives Matter rally that took place on June 6 at Victoria Park, which saw roughly 10,000 participants.
The MLHU says only one known participant at the rally had tested positive for COVID-19.
There is a second Black Lives Matter rally scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Victoria Park.
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Three outbreaks remain active in the region, all at seniors’ homes. The most recent one was declared on June 18 at Westmount Gardens, the same day three cases involving staff members were reported at the facility, according to the health unit.
Outbreaks also remain at Kensington Village, declared April 3, and at Peoplecare Oak Crossing, declared this past Tuesday in its Norway Spruce area. The outbreak at Peoplecare is the second at the facility, following one that was active May 3 to May 18 after two staff members contracted the virus.
The most recent outbreak to be resolved, on Wednesday, was at Chelsey Park Retirement Community, which saw at least one resident case.
In total, seniors’ homes have accounted for 176 of the region’s cases and 37 deaths. This includes staff and residents in both long-term care homes and retirement homes.
With the number of community cases remaining steady, the health unit earlier this week updated its language surrounding masks, saying it now strongly recommends people wear them when going out to public spaces.
It stopped short of mandating face coverings, but the region’s medical officer of health, Dr. Chris Mackie, noted the option, while not being imminently considered, isn’t entirely off the table if need be.
As more of the province open up, more Londoners have been taking it upon themselves to get checked out at the city’s two COVID-19 assessment centres.
The assessment centre at the Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre saw 315 people on Friday, while the centre at the Oakridge Arena assessed 316.
Overall, the two facilities have seen more than 24,000 people, and have swabbed nearly 19,000 as of Friday.
The number of hospitalized patients remains under five, according to London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). The organization announced earlier this month it would only issue an updated tally if it was five or more.
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About 19 per cent of the region’s cases — 111 — have involved hospitalizations, with five per cent needing intensive care.
Of those hospitalized, 36 have died.
A quarter of hospitalized cases are linked to outbreaks at seniors’ homes, health unit data shows.
It’s unclear how many LHSC staff have tested positive, as the organization has stopped releasing that number unless staff cases rise by five or more.
Health-care workers account for about 23 per cent of cases in London and Middlesex — 141 — and two of its deaths, according to the health unit.
Ontario
Provincially, Ontario reported 206 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the provincial total to 33,301.
It’s the first time in a week that the province has reported more than 200 cases.
Thirty-one new deaths were also announced on Saturday, bringing the total fatalities attributed to the virus in the province to 2,595. That’s the largest single-day increase in deaths since June 6.
A total of 28,468 cases are considered resolved, which makes up 85.5 per cent of all confirmed cases.
Nearly 27,400 additional tests have been conducted, and around 17,000 cases are under investigation.
Nationally, Canada is seeing 100,612 cases, 8,346 deaths and 63,003 recoveries. More than 2.45 million COVID-19 tests have been administered.
Elgin and Oxford
The numbers related to COVID-19 remain unchanged in the region as of Saturday.
The total number of cases remains at 82, of which 71 have recovered. Four people have died, a tally that has not changed in nearly two months.
There are seven ongoing cases — one in St. Thomas, one in Dutton/Dunwich, three in East Zorra-Tavistock, and one each in Tillsonburg and Woodstock.
None of the active cases have been hospitalized.
The total number of outbreaks declared remains unchanged at three. All have since resolved with no deaths reported.
As of Saturday, 7,916 tests had been conducted in Elgin and Oxford counties, with 446 people still awaiting test results.
Huron and Perth
Health officials with Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH) say it will no longer update COVID-19 figures on weekends to focus resources on existing HPPH programs given the low number of new cases.
As of Friday, the number of cases confirmed in the region remains at 57, of which 49 people have recovered and five have died.
Three cases remain active in the region, including two in Perth County and one in Huron County.
Stratford has seen 26 cases and four deaths reported, while in Huron and Perth counties, 14 cases and 13 cases have been reported, respectively.
Four cases and one death have been reported in St. Marys, according to the health unit.
The four deaths in Stratford were linked to an outbreak at Greenwood Court, a long-term care facility that saw six residents and 10 staff members test positive. It was declared over last month.
Seven outbreaks have been declared in total. All have resolved.
The number of tests conducted in the region is not known as the health unit has stopped providing a figure.
Sarnia and Lambton
Health officials in the region reported one new recovery late Friday. The number of cases and deaths remain the same.
This brings the total number of recoveries to 241 while the total number of cases remains at 281 and the death count holds at 25.
After nearly two months, the outbreak at Vision Nursing Home was declared over as of Thursday by health unit officials.
Declared April 23, the outbreak was the most severe in the county, with 26 residents — 10 of whom later died — and 28 staff testing positive.
Several positive cases from the facility were taken in by Bluewater Health hospital to curb the outbreak. The last resident, also the last COVID-19 patient at the hospital, was discharged Monday morning.
There are two active outbreaks in the region — one at Afton Park Place, a long-term care home where one staff member has tested positive, and another at Bluewater Health Hospital where four staff members have tested positive. Both outbreaks were declared earlier this week.
In total, at least 18 staff at the hospital have contracted the virus during the pandemic.
Due to changes early this month in provincial outbreak criteria, the outbreak Wednesday was the first to be declared at the hospital despite the previous cases.
According to the health unit, 40 per cent of the county’s cases are associated with health facility outbreaks, followed by 35 per cent through close contact.
The percentage of tests that come back positive stands at 2.7 per cent.
At least 10,431 test results had been received by the health unit as of late Friday.
— With files from Global News’ Ryan Rocca and Matthew Trevithick
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