Seven people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, while nine have recovered, officials with the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported on Monday.
Two new outbreaks have also been reported at local seniors’ facilities, while one outbreak has been declared over.
Monday’s update brings the region’s total case count to 902, of which 791 people have recovered. Fifty-seven people have died, a tally unchanged since June 12.
All seven new cases are from London, according to health figures. Two people are aged 19 or under, two are in their 20s and one each are in their 30s, 40s and 50s.
Two became infected through contact with a confirmed case, while one is linked to an outbreak. Three cases have no known link, while one is listed as pending or having an undetermined exposure source.
Health officials reported seven cases and 12 recoveries Sunday, five cases and 16 recoveries on Saturday and three cases and 11 recoveries on Friday.
The region’s seven-day average for new cases stood at 5.42 as of Monday. Looking back to Sept. 21, the 14-day average was 6.92. The region’s incident rate stood at 177.7 per 100,000 people, while Ontario’s was 364.6.
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At least 170 cases have been reported in London and Middlesex since the start of September, an increase due in large part to a surge in cases involving people under the age of 30.
At least 58 cases reported since Sept. 1 have involved people 19 or under, while at least 57 have involved people in their 20s.
That surge may explain the large number of recoveries seen over the last week. Double-digit recoveries were reported daily from Sept. 30 until Sunday.
As of Thursday, as many as 70 students from Western University had tested positive since the start of September. Health officials say they won’t be releasing an updated tally anymore, citing lower case numbers involving students compared to several weeks ago.
Local elementary and secondary schools have only seen one case, reported two weeks ago. It involved a student at H.B. Beal Secondary School.
The health unit says two new institutional outbreaks have been declared and one has been resolved in the London region as of Sunday afternoon.
One outbreak has been declared on the fourth floor of Earls Court Village, while another has been declared in the MV3 area of the Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care.
They’re among five that are currently active. The others are located at Country Terrace (facility-wide), Meadow Park Care Centre (blue and yellow units) and Peoplecare Oakcrossing (Red Oak). All three were declared between Sept. 23 and 24.
One outbreak, declared Sept. 21 at Ashwood Manor Retirement Home has been declared over, the health unit says.
It’s not clear how many cases have been linked to the outbreaks, as the health unit does not release that information. Facilities may release such figures, but none have as of yet.
At least 34 institutional outbreaks have been declared in the region during the pandemic, including 28 at seniors’ facilities.
Overall, the health unit says the institutional outbreaks have been linked to at least 202 of the region’s cases, with 108 residents and 94 staff members infected. The outbreaks have also left 35 people dead.
On Friday, the province announced changes to assessment centres in the province that would see walk-in testing phased out in favour of appointment-only service.
The province paused walk-in testing at assessment centres on Sunday to help it catch up on a large testing backlog. Appointment-only testing at assessment centres will begin on Tuesday.
Many assessment centres across the province were closed on Monday as a result, however, London’s were not among them.
Both Carling Heights and Oakridge Arena were open, according to the Thames Valley Family Health Team (TVFHT), which operates the centres alongside London Health Sciences Centre.
Carling Heights has been operating under a time-card system for more than a week, meaning it isn’t technically considered a walk-in service, while Oakridge Arena is shifting to a phone-based appointment system as of Monday.
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Those looking to book an appointment by phone at Oakridge Arena can call 519-667-6886 and leave a message.
Mike McMahon, executive director of TVFHT, told 980 CPFL on Friday that Carling Heights would continue with its current time-card system until phone or online appointment bookings were set up.
As for when that will happen, McMahon said he didn’t want to promise a date.
Meantime, testing of certain asymptomatic people is also available at three Shoppers Drug Mart locations, while the Middlesex-London Paramedic Service’s mobile testing bus remains operational.
The bus, which has seen very high turnout since launching on Wednesday of last week, was in Strathroy on Monday. It hit capacity 10 minutes before it was set to open.
The bus will next be at the Komoka Wellness Centre on Wednesday and at the Ilderton Arena Grounds on Friday.
Hospitalizations in the region remain low, according to London Health Sciences Centre. The hospital system has not issued an updated tally since mid-June, saying it will only do so if cases involving patients rise above five.
Similarly, it has not reported any staff cases in about as long.
A total of 117 people have been hospitalized, including 33 who have needed intensive care. A vast majority of those hospitalized have been over the age of 50.
By age, health unit figures show people in their 20s account for the most cases, with 210, or about 23.3 per cent.
People in their 50s make up 121 of the region’s cases, or about 13.6 per cent, while those in their 30s and those 80 and above make up 120 and 111 cases, respectively.
Those aged 19 and under make up 97 cases.
Ontario
Provincially, Ontario reported 615 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and five new deaths.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says 289 cases are in Toronto, 88 in Peel Region and 81 in Ottawa.
Elliott says 58 per cent of Monday’s cases are in people under the age of 40.
The province says it has a backlog of 68,006 tests and has conducted 38,196 tests since the last daily report.
In total, 176 people are hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, including 43 in intensive care.
The latest figures bring the total number of COVID-19 cases in Ontario to 54,814, with 2,980 deaths and 46,360 cases resolved.
Elgin and Oxford
One person has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and one person has recovered, officials with Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) reported Monday.
That brings the region’s total case count to 272, of which 260 people have recovered. Five people have died, a tally unchanged from early July.
At least seven cases are active in the region. Six are in St. Thomas while one is in East Zorra-Tavistock.
Health officials reported one new case on Sunday, one recovery on Saturday and no change on Friday.
No new cases have been reported involving local elementary or secondary schools. Only one case has been confirmed, reported on Tuesday of last week It involved a student at Mitchell Hepburn Public School in St. Thomas.
Of the region’s active cases, two people are under the age of 10, one is in their 20s, three are in their 30s and one is in their 40s. Five are female and two are male.
No one is currently in hospital within SWPH’s jurisdiction. A total of 23 people have been admitted during the pandemic, including 11 who have needed intensive care.
People in their 50s and people in their 20s account for the largest number of cases with 51 and 50 infections, respectively.
Overall, Aylmer has recorded the most cases during the pandemic with 82.
Elsewhere, St. Thomas has seen 45, while Bayham has reported 38, Woodstock 30, Tillsonburg 25, and Dutton/Dunwich 10. Ten other municipalities have seen single-digit cases.
The region’s per cent positivity rate was 0.1 per cent for the week of Sept. 20, the most recent data available. Nearly 3,000 tests were conducted that week.
Huron and Perth
Four new cases and two recoveries were reported Monday by officials with Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH).
The update brings the region’s total case count to 133, of which 124 people have recovered. Five people have also died, a tally unchanged since April 29.
It’s the largest single-day rise in cases since late August, when six cases were reported on Aug. 25.
Of Monday’s cases, two were reported in Huron County — one in Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, the other in Goderich — while two were reported in North Perth County.
The four cases are the only active cases in the region.
Health officials did not issue an update over the weekend. No change was reported on Friday.
Health unit figures show that one active case involves a health-care worker. Overall, 37 of the region’s cases have been health-care workers.
No hospitalized cases have been reported since late April. A total of five people have needed to be admitted to hospital, including three who needed oxygen therapy, two who needed intensive care and one who needed intubation.
By location, 48 cases have been in Perth County, 47 have been in Huron County, 32 have been in Stratford and six have been in St. Marys.
Four deaths have also been reported in Stratford, and one death in St. Marys.
At least 29 cases have been linked to people in their 20s, followed by people in their 50s with 24 and people in their 60s with 22.
At least 55 per cent of cases involve women and girls.
According to the health unit, 30.8 per cent of cases have an unknown exposure source, while 30.1 per cent are due to close contact, 14.3 per cent are outbreak-related, 13.5 per cent are due to household contact and 8.3 per cent are travel-related.
Some 37,438 tests had been conducted by the health unit as of Sept. 20, the most recent figures available. That week saw 2,269 tests completed and a per cent positivity rate of 0.1 per cent.
Sarnia and Lambton
Two people have recovered from the novel coronavirus, officials with Lambton Public Health (LPH) reported late Sunday.
The region’s total case count remains at 347, of which 321 people have recovered. Twenty-five people have also died, a tally unchanged since early June.
According to the health unit, there is one known active case in the county.
Health officials reported no change late Saturday or late Friday. One case was reported late Thursday.
Masks are now required in indoor spaces in the county following an announcement last week by the province.
Lambton has been one of the only regions in the province, if not the only region, that hasn’t had some form of widespread mask mandate in place.
No change has been reported to the region’s overall hospitalization count, which has stayed at 58 since late May, or to its outbreak count, which has remained at 10 since mid-August.
By age, people 80 and up account for at least 76 cases, while people in their 50s make up 52. People in their 20s make up 50 cases.
At least 197 cases, or 57 per cent, involve women and girls. At least 18 per cent of all cases involve health-care workers.
According to health officials, 27,811 tests have been received as of Sept. 27, the latest figures available.
Only six per cent of the 1,181 cases done the previous week had a turnaround time of within two days.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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