Southwestern still at Orange, but London moves to Red

Southwestern Public Health reported 12 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Tuesday, March 30.

The health unit was tracking 84 ongoing cases on Tuesday, down from 92 on Monday.

Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford remain in the “Orange-Restrict” provincial pandemic colour code on Tuesday, but on that same day London-Middlesex was moved to “Red-Control” from Orange because of a spike in cases there.

Megan Cornwell of Southwestern Public Health said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Joyce Lock was keeping a close eye on local cases and trends, in case this region also needed tighter restrictions.

The number of ongoing cases in St. Thomas decreased to 23 Tuesday from 24 Monday, in Central Elgin to nine from 11, in Dutton-Dunwich to three from four and in Bayham to one from two.

Aylmer increased to three from one and Malahide to four from three. West Elgin stayed at one.

In Oxford, Woodstock dropped to 17 from 25. Ingersoll and area rose to nine from seven, Tillsonburg and area to five from two and Blandford-Blenheim to three from two.

South-West Oxford remained at three, East Zorra-Tavistock at two and Norwich at one.

The infection rate across the Southwestern region stood at 39.7 per 100,000 of population on Tuesday, down from 43.5 on Monday.

Across Ontario, 2,336 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed Tuesday, up from 2,094 Monday.