Southwestern reports 74th COVID-19-related death

Southwestern Public Health on Wednesday, April 21, reported the 74th death connected to COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford since the pandemic began, a St. Thomas man in his 70s.

The health unit also reported 28 confirmed new cases of COVID-19 in the region, up from 12 the previous day. Southwestern is currently tracking 198 ongoing cases, up from 182 on Tuesday.

St. Thomas and areas increased to 69 ongoing cases Wednesday from 67 Tuesday, Aylmer and area to six from three and Dutton Dunwich to three from one.

Central Elgin dropped to three from five, while Bayham stayed at six and Malahide at two.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area rose to 44 from 37 and Tillsonburg and area to 27 from 25. Norwich decreased to nine from 10, Zorra to six from seven, East Zorra-Tavistock to four from seven and Ingersoll and area to three from six.

Blandford-Blenheim remained at four and South-West Oxford at one.

As of Wednesday, 307 of the cases in the Southwestern region to date this year have involved COVID-19 variants considered more contagious and/or causing more severe symptoms than the original strain.

Of those, 217 have been resolved and 89 are ongoing. One is listed as “awaiting follow-up.”

Five residents of the Southwestern region are hospitalized with COVID-19, one of them in an Intensive Care Unit.

The infection rate for the area stands at 88.9 cases per 100,000 of population, up from 86.1 on Tuesday.

Across Ontario, 4,212 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Wednesday, up from 3,469 the previous day.