Big drop in Aylmer area cases

Southwestern Public Health was reporting five new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Saturday, March 6, down from seven on Friday.

The number of ongoing cases being tracked by the health unit also fell, to 75 from 82.

Aylmer and area, including the major outbreak at Ontario Police College, decreased to 46 ongoing cases from 63.

(On Friday, Megan Cornwell, on behalf of Southwestern, had stated that a total of 94 confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been found at the police college to date.

(So far, 18 have recovered and were considered no longer infectious, she said. Some others had returned to their homes to self-isolate, and others, such as instructors who worked at the college but resided in another jurisdiction, would not be included in the ongoing Aylmer and area count as a result.)

Elsewhere, St. Thomas and area decreased to five cases from seven, while Central Elgin remained at one case.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area increased to 11 from nine and Blandford-Blenheim to three from four. East Zorra-Tavistock rose to four from one.

Zorra remained steady at two and Ingersoll and area, Norwich and Tillsonburg and area at one case each.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stands at 35.5 cases per 100,000 of population, down from 38.8 on Friday.

Across Ontario, 990 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Saturday, down from 1,250 on Friday.