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The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported 15 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday along with 21 recoveries and no new deaths.

The update brings the region’s total COVID-19 case count to 1,361, of which 1,153 people have recovered and 63 have died.

There are currently 145 known active cases in the region, the health unit says.

The region’s non-intensive care hospitalized tally is at 103, however, it’s not clear how many people in total are currently in hospital — including in intensive care — as such information isn’t readily available.

London Health Sciences Centre said Thursday in one of its twice-weekly updates that the number of COVID-19-positive patients in its care was “five or less,” while St. Joseph’s Health Care reported no such patients at its facilities.

The region’s seven-day new case average sits around 17.85 as of Friday, according to health unit figures.

Starting Monday, the London and Middlesex region will shift from green-prevent to the more restrictive yellow-protect tier of the province’s recently unveiled colour-coded COVID-19 response framework.

The change comes after the province announced Friday that it would lower the framework‘s thresholds for imposing stricter measures in the wake of alarming new case projections and criticism over the framework’s original thresholds.

The projections, unveiled Thursday, found that the province is on track to see upwards of 6,000 new daily cases of the coronavirus by the middle of December.

Schools

Another new case has been reported at Sir Arthur Carty Catholic School, where there are now five cases of COVID-19 linked to the school.

As of Sunday, 15 active school-linked cases remain in the region. They’re among 38 in total that have been reported since the start of September.

Active cases remain at the following TVDSB schools: Eagle Heights Public School (two cases), Oakridge Secondary school (two students), Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School (one student), Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School (one case) and Westminster Secondary School (two cases).

The London District Catholic School Board says cases also remain active at three of its schools: Catholic Central High School (one student), Sir Arthur Carty Catholic School (five students) and St. Nicholas Catholic Elementary School (one student.)

Since-resolved cases were reported on:

• Sept. 21 at H.B. Beal Secondary School involving a student.
• Oct. 5 and Oct. 8 at École élémentaire La Pommeraie, both involving staff members.
• Oct. 7 at Saunders Secondary School involving a student.
• Oct. 9 and Oct. 12 at Sir Arthur Currie Public School, one involving a staff member, the other involving a student. The cases resulted in an outbreak declaration, which resolved on Oct. 30.
• Oct. 12 at Mary Wright Public School in Strathroy involving a student.
• Oct. 13 at Northdale Central Public School in Dorchester involving a student.
• Oct. 17 at Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School involving a student.
• Oct. 21 at Lambeth Public School involving a student.
• Oct. 25 at Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School involving a student, at St. Andre Bessette Secondary School involving a student and at St. Kateri Separate School involving two students.
• Oct. 29 at École élémentaire catholique Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc involving one staff member, at West Nissouri Public School involving one student, and at A.B. Lucas Secondary School involving one staff member.
  
• Oct. 31 at Eagle Heights Public School involving one staff member.
• Nov. 2 at Northbrae Public School involving one student.
• Nov. 10 at Wilton Grove Public School (before-and-after-school program)

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Institutional outbreaks

No change has been reported in regard to institutional outbreaks in the region.

Two outbreaks remain active at University Hospital, while one is active at Henley Place Long-Term Care Home in its Harris and Medway areas.

The University Hospital outbreaks, declared Nov. 10 and 11, are located in 4IP General Medicine and 9IP Orthopaedics, respectively.

It’s not clear how many people have become infected due to both outbreaks. At least three tested positive in the outbreak in 4IP General Medicine, according to a CBC London report.

No designated care providers or visitors are currently permitted in either affected unit as a result.

Since the pandemic began, at least 48 institutional outbreaks have been declared in London and Middlesex, of which 40 have been at seniors’ facilities.

Outbreaks at long-term care homes have been linked to 66 resident cases, 79 staff cases and 26 deaths, while retirement home outbreaks have been tied to 46 resident cases, 32 staff cases and 13 deaths.

Testing

Both Carling Heights and Oakridge Arena are operating by appointment only, while appointment testing is available for certain asymptomatic people at eight local pharmacies.

Ontario

Ontario reported 1,248 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 94,009.

Twenty-nine new deaths were also announced, bringing the provincial death toll to 3,361.

Meanwhile, 78,303 cases are considered resolved, which is 83.3 per cent of all confirmed cases.

Ontario has now completed a total of 5,643,922 tests, while 26,147 remain under investigation.

Elgin and Oxford

Eight people have tested positive for the coronavirus while three others have recovered, Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) reported Sunday.

That brings the region’s total case count to 436, of which 376 people have recovered and five have died. The most recent death was reported in early July.

There are at least 55 known active cases in the region, with nearly all of them in Oxford County.

Eighteen cases are active in Norwich, while 17 are active in Woodstock and three each in Ingersoll, Tillsonburg, and South-West Oxford. Two cases each are active in Blandford-Blenheim and Zorra. East Zorra-Tavistock has one active case.

In Elgin County, four cases are active in Aylmer, one is in Bayham and one is in St. Thomas.

According to a report in the Woodstock Sentinel-Review, several cases in Norwich involve congregants of a local church.

No cases were in hospital as of Thursday, the most recent update from the health unit.

The Thames Valley District School Board says Straffordville Public School has one positive case, along with two student cases at Northdale Public School in Woodstock.

All three cases remain active.

An outbreak has been declared at a long-term care home in Norwich, the health unit says.

The outbreak, declared Thursday, involves Bethany Care Home and has seen three residents at the home test positive.

It’s currently the only active institutional outbreak. Eight in total have been declared since March, linked to 15 cases, of which all but two have involved staff members. No deaths have been reported.

By location, 96 cases have been reported in Aylmer since the pandemic began, giving the municipality an incident rate of 1,268 cases per 100,000 people.

Elsewhere, Bayham has seen 77 cases, driven largely by a farm outbreak earlier this month, while Woodstock has seen 73, St. Thomas 51, Tillsonburg 36, Norwich 33 and Ingersoll 14.

As of the week of Nov. 1, the region’s test positivity rate stood at 0.9 per cent. At least 2,833 people were tested for the virus that week.

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Huron and Perth

Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH) does not update its case numbers over the weekend.

Six people have tested positive for the coronavirus while three others have recovered, HPPH reported Friday.

The update brings the region’s total case count to 228, of which 155 people have recovered. Nine deaths have also been reported, most recently on Thursday involving a resident of Cedarcroft Place, a Stratford retirement home that has been experiencing a severe outbreak.

Of the six cases reported, three are in Perth East while three are in Stratford, health unit figures show. The Stratford cases don’t appear to be linked to the Cedarcroft outbreak.

The update leaves at least 64 known active cases in the region. Of those, one is currently in hospital, the health unit says.

The Cedarcroft outbreak has been linked to at least 52 cases involving 36 residents — four of whom have since died — and 16 staff members. On Thursday, the health unit reported that two residents of the home were in hospital, including one in intensive care.

The outbreak was first declared on Oct. 27 with three cases reported.

One other outbreak remains active in the region at Knollcrest Lodge in Perth East. That outbreak was declared on Nov. 7 and is linked to one staff case.

At least 12 outbreaks have been declared at 10 facilities in the province since March. They’re linked to 79 cases and at least eight deaths — four at Cedarcroft and four at Greenwood Court in the spring.

No new cases have been reported involving schools. Three cases are currently active and all involve students. Two are at Milverton Public School in Perth East and one is at Shakespeare Public School in Stratford.

The second Milverton case, and the case at Shakespeare, were reported by the Avon Maitland District School Board on Wednesday.

Previously, one probable case had been reported Oct. 16 at Stratford’s St. Joseph’s Catholic Elementary School. However, it was not officially confirmed and was not reported in the province’s database.

Stratford has reported a total of 104 cases and eight deaths, while Perth County has seen 64 cases, including 29 in Perth East and 20 in North Perth.

Huron County, meantime, has seen 52 cases, including 15 in Central Huron and 13 in Bluewater, while St. Marys has reported eight cases and one death.

Some 51,884 tests had been conducted by the health unit as of Nov. 1, the most recent figures available. The test per cent positivity rate that week was 1.3 per cent. Just over 2,100 people were tested.

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Sarnia and Lambton

Officials with Lambton Public Health reported four new cases of COVID-19 late Saturday along with four new recoveries.

The region’s total case tally stands at 386, of which 352 people have recovered. Twenty-five people have died, a figure unchanged since early June.

There are nine known active cases in the region, the locations of which are unclear as such information is not released by the health unit.

There is currently one person hospitalized due to the virus, Bluewater Health says. A total of three have been hospitalized since the end of October.

At local schools, one case remains active, located at Riverview Central School in Port Lambton. The case, reported last Sunday, involves a student.

It’s among five school cases that have been reported since the start of the school year.

Two have been at Northern Collegiate Institute and Vocational School in Sarnia, while one each has been at Bright’s Grove Public School in Sarnia and Colonel Cameron Public School in Corunna.

Meanwhile, no new institutional or workplace outbreaks have been declared in the region. The last active outbreak, reported at Fiddick’s Retirement Home in Petrolia on Oct. 30, was declared over on Wednesday. It was linked to one resident case.

Of the 13 outbreaks declared in Lambton since March, 10 have been at seniors’ homes, one has been at Bluewater Health, and two have been at unnamed workplaces.

The seniors’ home and hospital outbreaks have been linked to 60 resident/patient cases, 48 staff cases and 16 deaths. The deaths occurred at Landmark Village and Vision Nursing Home.

At least 51,383 people had been tested in the county as of Nov. 7, the most recent figures available.

— With files from Matthew Trevithick, Ryan Rocca and Sawyer Bogdan