May 27, 2022 12:10 p.m
The number of people in London hospital with COVID-19 rose for the first time in two days on Friday.
The London Health Sciences Center (LHSC) confirmed it currently has 40 inpatients with the virus in its care, up from five since Thursday. The hospital network found that 16 of the 40 infected patients were hospitalized for treatment for the virus. The 24 others were hospitalized for other reasons and tested positive for the virus. COVID-19 hospitalizations at LHSC ranged from mid-30s to late 40s throughout the month.
The hospital network has five or fewer patients with COVID listed in the ICU, up from six on Thursday. Children’s Hospital has five or fewer inpatients with the virus, including five or fewer listed in pediatric critical care.
The number of infected hospital workers continued to decline on Friday. According to the LHSC, there are currently 75 employees who have tested positive, two fewer than the previous day. At this time last week there were 123 infected workers.
The Middlesex London Health Unit on Friday reported a further 59 new COVID-19 cases, up from 30 the previous day. The health unit also notes that the number of cases in a day is likely an underestimate of the true number of people with the virus in the area due to limited eligibility for testing. The total number of confirmed infections in the region since the pandemic began is now 38,057.
For the second day in a row there were no further deaths related to the virus. That leaves the death toll in London and Middlesex County unchanged at 391.
The number of closed cases rose to 37,286. There are 380 known active cases in the region, up 10 from the last 24 hours
30 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Elgin and Oxford counties on Friday. Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for the area, said the local total for cases rises to 13,883, with 13,589 resolved. There were no other COVID-19 deaths on site, bringing the death toll to 168. There are currently 126 active cases known in the two counties.
Ontario saw a further decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations but an increase in the death toll on Friday.
There are currently 948 people with the virus in hospitals in Ontario, down 21 as of Thursday. At this point last week, 1,165 hospitalizations were reported across the province.
Of the 948 people hospitalized on Friday, around 41 percent were admitted for the virus, while 59 percent were admitted for other reasons and tested positive for the virus.
There are 154 patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units, unchanged from the numbers reported Thursday.
Ontario recorded 1,096 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Public health officials have warned that the daily counts underestimate the spread of the virus in the province due to limited suitability for PCR testing.
Ontario’s total number of cases since the pandemic began now stands at 1,299,874.
Public health officials confirmed 15 more deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 13,210. The province said 14 of the deaths occurred within the last month, while one that occurred more than a month ago was added to the count after data cleaning.
The number of closed cases increased by 1,576 to 1,274,661.
13,316 COVID-19 tests have been processed in the last 24 hours. Ontario’s positivity rate is now 8.4 percent, up from 9.1 percent a week ago.
To date, the province has administered 33,306,535 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 91.3 percent of those aged 12 and over having received two shots. More than 7.3 million Ontarians, or 57 percent, have received a third injection.
