Almost a quarter of ongoing COVID-19 cases involve those under 20

Southwestern Public Health reported 30 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Friday, April 16, up from 23 the previous day.

The health unit is tracking 198 ongoing cases, up from 180. Almost 25 percent of the current active cases involved residents under 20 years old, a major change from trends earlier in the pandemic.

St. Thomas and area climbed to 74 ongoing cases Friday from 69 Thursday and Bayham to six from five.

Aylmer and area, Central Elgin and Dutton Dunwich stayed at six each, Malahide at three and Southwold at one.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area rose to 46 from 42, Tillsonburg and area to 13 from 10, East Zorra-Tavistock to six from five, Norwich to six from three and Ingersoll and area to five from four.

Blandford-Blenheim remained at 14,  Zorra at five and South-West Oxford at one.

Eight residents in the Southwestern region are hospitalized due to COVID-19, two of them in Intensive Care Units.

The infection rate for the Southwestern area stands at 93.6 cases per 100,000 of population, up from 85.1 on Thursday.

Across Ontario, a new record high was set with 4,812 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday, up from 4,736 on Thursday, which held the previous record.