Eight new cases in Southwestern region

Southwestern Public Health reported eight new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Thursday, April 1, down from 18 on Wednesday.

The health unit was tracking 90 ongoing cases Thursday, down from 92 Wednesday.

St. Thomas and area dropped to 20 cases Thursday from 23 Wednesday, Central Elgin to seven from eight and Aylmer and area to two from three.

Malahide rose to five from four and West Elgin to three from two. Dutton Dunwich remained at three and Bayham at one.

In Oxford, Woodstock increased to 21 from 18 and Tillsonburg and area to seven from six, and a new case appeared in Zorra. Ingersoll and area decreased to nine from 11 and East Zorra-Tavistock to one from two.

South-West Oxford stayed at six and Blandford-Blenheim at four.

So far, Southwestern had reported 75 cases involving COVID-19 variants, almost all confirmed or presumed to be of the United Kingdom Strain.

One has been confirmed as the South African strain, and one is either that strain or the Brazilian variant.

Seventeen variant cases remain ongoing, while 58 have been resolved.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stands at 42.6 cases per 100,000 of population, down from 43.5 on Wednesday.

Across Ontario, 2,557 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Thursday, up from 2,333 on Wednesday.