Southwestern reports 72nd death linked to COVID-19

Southwestern Public Health announced Thursday morning, April 15, the death of a Woodstock woman in her 80s related to COVID-19.

That’s the 72nd death to date connected to the virus in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford.

Southwestern also reported 23 new confirmed cases of the virus Thursday, down from 30 the previous day. The health unit is now tracking 180 ongoing cases in the region, down slightly from 182 Wednesday.

St. Thomas and area increased to 69 ongoing cases Thursday from 65 Wednesday and Central Elgin to six from four.

Aylmer and area dropped to six from 12 and Dutton Dunwich to six from seven. Bayham stayed at five, Malahide at three and Southwold at one.

In Oxford, Woodstock decreased to 42 from 46, Zorra to five from six, Ingersoll and area to four from six and South-West Oxford to one from four.

Blandford-Blenheim rose to 14 from 12, Tillsonburg and area to 10 from five and East Zorra-Tavistock to five from two. Norwich remained at three.

Southwestern so far this year has recorded 218 COVID-19 cases attributed to variants of concern, considered more contagious and/or creating more severe symptoms than the original strain. That’s up by 15 from Wednesday.

Of those cases, 94 are ongoing and 124 resolved. Most involve a variant first identified in the United Kingdom.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stands at 85.1 cases per 100,000 of population, down from 86.1 on Wednesday.

Across Ontario, 4,736 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Wednesday, up substantially from 4,156 the previous day.