COVID-19 numbers level off Monday

Southwestern Public Health was reporting three new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday, March 1, down from 31 on Sunday, as a large outbreak at Ontario Police College seemed to level off, at least for the moment.

That outbreak started last week, and the 31 confirmed new cases on Sunday were mostly results from mass testing of students and staff at the college.

The health unit is now tracking 85 ongoing cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford, up from 84 on Sunday.

Aylmer and area, which includes the police college, increased to 60 cases Monday from 59 on Sunday.

St. Thomas and area remained at three and Bayham, Central Elgin and West Elgin at one each.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area rose to 13 from 12, while Blandford-Blenheim dipped to two from three. Ingersoll and area and Tillsonburg and area remained at two cases each.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stands at 40.2 cases per 100,000 of population, up slightly from 39.7 on Sunday.

Across Ontario, 1,023 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed Monday, down from 1,062 the previous day.