Oxford man latest COVID-linked death

Southwestern Public Health reported on Friday, March 26, the death of an Oxford man in his 60s which was linked to COVID-19.

That brings to 68 the total number of such deaths in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford.

The health unit also reported 10 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday, up from eight on Thursday. The number of ongoing cases in the region dropped, to 76 from 80.

St. Thomas and area increased to 15 cases Friday from 12 on Thursday. Central Elgin remained at nine, Aylmer and area at two and Bayham, Dutton Dunwich and Malahide at one each.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area decreased to 26 from 32, Ingersoll and area to seven from eight and Tillsonburg and area to five from six.

Norwich rose to two from one, while South-West Oxford stayed at four and East Zorra-Tavistock at three.

In recent weeks, 57 cases have tested positive for one of three known variants considered more contagious or virulent than COVID-19. Five have been confirmed as being the United Kingdom variant, while 52 more are presumed to be, awaiting further laboratory analysis. All five cases have been resolved.

Of those 52 other cases, 32 have been resolved and 20 are ongoing.

So far, 7,618 local residents have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Two persons are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, but neither is in an intensive care unit.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stands at 35.9 cases per 100,000 of population.

Across Ontario, 2,169 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed Friday, down from 2,380 on Thursday.