Southwestern COVID-19 counts keep rising

Southwestern Public Health was reporting 65 new cases from the weekend, or an average of over 30 a day, on Monday, April 12, compared to 24 new cases on Friday, April 9.

Southwestern also announced the death of a St. Thomas man in his 50s in a case linked to COVID-19.

The health unit is tracking 164 ongoing cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford, up from 123 on Friday.

St. Thomas and area increased to 41 ongoing cases Monday from 24 Friday, Bayham to seven from three, Central Elgin to six from three and Malahide to three from one.

Aylmer and area dropped to 15 from 19, while Dutton Dunwich stayed at six.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area jumped to 48 from 36, Blandford-Blenheim to 10 from two, Ingersoll and area to seven from six, Zorra to six from three and East Zorra-Tavistock to four from two.

South-West Oxford decreased to five from six, Tillsonburg and area to four from eight and Norwich to two from three.

The health unit has so far recorded 140 cases involving variants of concern, most of the strain first identified in the United Kingdom, with 83 resolved and 47 ongoing.

Five persons are hospitalized with COVID-19, two of them in Intensive Care Units.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stands at 77.5 cases per 100,000 of population, up from 58.2 on Friday.

Across Ontario, 4,401 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Monday, down from 4,456 on Sunday.