Fifty-seven new cases over weekend

Southwestern Public Health on Monday, April 19, reported 57 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford from the weekend.

The current total of ongoing cases in this region stands at 190, down from 198 on Friday.

St. Thomas and area decreased to 70 ongoing cases Monday from 74 Friday, Central Elgin to five from six, Aylmer and area to three from six, Dutton Dunwich to two from six and Malahide to two from three.

Bayham rose to seven from six while Southwold stayed at one.

In Oxford, Tillsonburg and area increased to 24 from 13, Norwich to nine from six, East Zorra-Tavistock to seven from six, Ingersoll and area to six from five and Zorra to six from five.

Woodstock and area dropped to 40 from 47 and Blandford-Blenheim to seven from 14, while South-West Oxford remained at one.

Southwestern has so far this year detected 270 cases involving COVID-19 variants of concern, considered more contagious and causing more severe symptoms than the original strain. To date, 89 are ongoing and 181 resolved.

Most involve a variant first identified in the United Kingdom.

Five persons are hospitalized due to COVID-19 in the Southwestern area, but none are in Intensive Care Units.

Across Ontario, 4,447 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Monday, 4,250 on Sunday and 4,350 on Saturday.