Southwestern region sees 12th death, 37 new cases

Southwestern Public Health was reporting a 12th death linked to COVID-19 on Thursday, Dec. 24, a St. Thomas woman in her 60s.

A total of 37 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Thursday, down from 47 the previous day. The current number of ongoing cases being tracked is 197, up from 182 the previous day.

The number of confirmed cases in Aylmer and area rose to 41 from 37, in St. Thomas and area to 35 from 30 and in Central Elgin to six from four.

Bayham stayed even at eight cases, Southwold at three and West Elgin at three.

In Oxford, Tillsonburg and area rose to 35 from 28 and in Woodstock and area to 18 from 15.

Norwich dropped to 13 cases from 17 and Blandford-Blenheim to 10 from 12. East Zorra-Tavistock remained steady at 14, Ingersoll and area at seven, Zorra at three and South-West Oxford at one.

The infection rate in the Southwestern region stands at 93.1 per 100,000 of population, up from 86.1.

Across Ontario, a new record of 2,447 confirmed cases set set Thursday, up from 2,408 the previous day.