Thirteen more new COVID-19 cases

Southwestern Public Health is reporting 13 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Tuesday, April 6, after 63 new cases were verified over the Easter long weekend.

That brought the number of ongoing cases in the region to 120 Tuesday, up from 115 on Monday.

St. Thomas and area rose to 27 ongoing cases Tuesday from 23 Monday and Aylmer and area to 11 from eight.

Central Elgin decreased to two from three, while Dutton Dunwich remained at three, Malahide at three, Bayham at two, West Elgin at two and Southwold at one.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area increased to 34 from 33, East Zorra-Tavistock to three from one and South-West Oxford to two from one.

Ingersoll and area dropped to 13 from 14, Tillsonburg and area to 11 from 12 and Blandford-Blenheim to one from two. Zorra stayed at three and Norwich at two.

Southwestern has discovered 92 recent cases of COVID-19 involve a “variant of concern,” considered more dangerous than the original strain. So far, 27 are ongoing and 65 have been resolved.

Almost all the variant cases include a strain first identified in the United Kingdom. One ongoing case is confirmed to be a strain first identified in South Africa, while two other cases, one resolved and one ongoing, involve either that strain or one first identified in Brazil.

As of Tuesday, three Southwestern residents were hospitalized with COVID-19, one in an intensive care unit.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stood at 56.7 cases per 100,000 of population Tuesday, up from 54.4 on Monday.

Across Ontario, 3,065 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed Tuesday, up from 2,938 on Monday.