Aylmer and area reaches 500 cumulative cases of COVID-19

Southwestern Public Health reported 14 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Friday, April 30, including the 500th in Aylmer and area since the pandemic began.

Aylmer and area ranks only behind Woodstock and St. Thomas, much larger communities, in the cumulative case count.

The health unit is now tracking 138 ongoing cases in its region, down from 141 on Thursday.

Aylmer and area increased to 11 ongoing cases Friday from eight on Thursday, St. Thomas and area to 28 from 27 and Dutton Dunwich to seven from six.

Central Elgin dropped to five from six, Bayham to three from five and West Elgin to one from two. Southwold stayed at one.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area decreased to 40 from 43 and Ingersoll and area to nine from 11. Tillsonburg and area rose to 22 from 21.

Blandford-Blenheim remained at four, Norwich and South-West Oxford at three each and Zorra at one.

So far this year, Southwestern has confirmed 387 cases involving a variant of concern considered more contagious and/or causing more severe symptoms than the original strain of COVID-19. To date, 346 are resolved and 41 are ongoing.

As of Friday, 10 Southwestern residents were hospitalized as a result of the virus, two in Intensive Care Units.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stands at 65.2 cases per 100,000 of population, down from 66.7 on Thursday.

Across Ontario, 3,887 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Friday, up from 3,871 on Thursday.