London and Middlesex have seven additional cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, according to the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU).
There are now a total of 800 COVID-19 cases in the region, with 682 recoveries, two more than the day before.
The MLHU says four of Sunday’s seven new cases are Western University students, and one is a student at an affiliated college.
Western students account for some 46 cases after two out of four of Saturday’s cases as well as 11 out of 13 of Friday’s cases were confirmed to be Western students.
There are at least 61 known active cases in the region, according to the health unit.
The death toll in the region remains unchanged at 57.
The individuals involved in Sunday’s seven new cases include five males and two females.
Four are under the age of 19, and three are in their 20s. None are health-care workers, according to MLHU data.
Dr. Chris Mackie, the medical officer of health for London and Middlesex said the spread of COVID-19 in Western students is virtually all linked to partying in bars and restaurants, or in private homes.
“From our community’s perspective, this is a second wave. It’s in a new population at a new time where even looking across the general community, there isn’t a lot of activity. It’s very unfortunate that this has happened.”
Of the 11 cases from Friday that involve Western students, nine have been tied to a large house party that occurred over the weekend.
One case from Saturday was also tied to the house party.
It has since been deemed an outbreak, and at least 17 cases have been reported as a result of the house party, according to the health unit.
The sudden spikes in cases have kept London’s two COVID-19 assessment centres busy. The centre at Carling Heights closed just before 1 p.m. after reaching its capacity.
At least 743 of the region’s cases have been reported in London, while 27 have been in Strathroy-Caradoc and 12 in Middlesex Centre. Seven cases have been in Thames Centre, six in North Middlesex, four in Lucan Biddulph and one in Southwest Middlesex.
The region’s cases per 100,000 rate stood at 157.7 as of Sunday, while Ontario’s stood at 312.7.
People in their 20s make up the region’s largest age group of cases, accounting for 185, or 23 per cent of the region’s case total. People in their 50s make up 114 cases, while people in their 30s and those 80 and above make up 108 each.
The city’s lone institutional outbreak, located on the fourth floor of Chelsey Park Retirement Community, remained active as of Sunday. The outbreak was declared on Sept. 9.
Ontario
Ontario reported 365 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 46,849.
One new death was also announced, bringing the death toll to 2,827.
Meanwhile, 40,968 cases are considered resolved which is just over 87 per cent of all confirmed cases.
Ontario has now completed a total of 3,548,590 tests.
Elgin and Oxford
No new cases, deaths, or recoveries were reported by Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) for another day on Sunday.
The region’s total case count remains unchanged at 263, of which 248 people have recovered. Five have died, most recently in early July.
There are at least 10 known active cases in the region — eight are in Woodstock, one is in Bayham and one is in Central Elgin.
According to the health unit, of the region’s 10 active cases, five are in their 20s, two are in their 50s, two are in their 60s and one is in their 80s. Seven are men and three are women.
There are no active outbreaks in the region.
Total testing numbers weren’t immediately available, but the health unit says its test per cent positivity rate for the week of Sept. 6, the most recent that is available, was 0.1 per cent.
Huron and Perth
Huron Perth Public Health does not provide updates on weekends.
As of Friday, the total number of cases in the region stood at 127, of which 119 have recovered and five have died.
At least three cases remained active in the region.
At least 45 cases were reported in Perth County, with North Perth and Perth East reporting 16 and 15 cases, respectively.
Forty-five cases had also been reported in Huron County, including 14 in Central Huron, 12 in Bluewater and 10 in South Huron.
Thirty-one cases have been reported in Stratford along with four deaths that were linked to an outbreak at Greenwood Court early in the pandemic.
In St. Marys, six cases and one death have been reported.
The region’s test positivity rate was 0.2 per cent as of the week of Sept. 6.
Sarnia and Lambton
Officials with Lambton Public Health reported one new case of COVID-19 late Saturday.
The region’s total case count now stands at 344, with 317 recoveries and 25 deaths. The latest death was reported in early June.
There are two known active cases in the region. It’s not clear where in the county the cases are located as the health unit has refrained from releasing location information on cases.
There are no active outbreaks in the region.
The last outbreak to be reported was on Aug. 10 at an unspecified workplace where four people tested positive. It was declared over on Aug. 15.
In total, outbreaks are linked to 109 cases and 16 deaths.
The health unit says at least 26,040 tests have been received as of late Saturday. At least 1.3 per cent of tests are coming back positive.
–- With files from Global News’ Matthew Trevithick, Sawyer Bogdan, and Ryan Rocca
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