Hospitalizations up in Southwestern region

Southwestern Public Health was reporting Friday, Oct. 29, that six residents of the Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford region were hospitalized with COVID-19, three of them in intensive care units.

That’s up from three hospitalizations, with two in ICUs, from Thursday.

Southwestern announced nine new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its area on Friday, down from 10 on Thursday. The number of ongoing cases being tracked by the health unit fell to 79 Friday from 88 Thursday.

Aylmer and area continues to be a hotspot for active cases, with 21 Friday, more than the rest of Elgin and St. Thomas combined. Bayham was at six, St. Thomas and area at five, Central Elgin at 3 and Malahide at one.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stands at 37.4 cases per 100,000 of population, down from 41.6 on Thursday.

Across Ontario, 419 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Friday, up from 409 on Thursday.