Southwestern: 89 new cases in one day

Southwestern Public Health was reporting 89 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Thursday morning, Dec. 23, the highest single-day total since the pandemic began.

The previous day, 29 new cases had been confirmed.

The number of ongoing cases being tracked by the health unit jumped to 397 Thursday from 328 Wednesday.

Local cases include 112 in St. Thomas and area, an increase of 32 overnight. Central Elgin has 22, Aylmer and area 15, Dutton Dunwich 13, Malahide nine, West Elgin eight, Bayham four and Southwold three.

Twelve Southwestern area residents are hospitalized with COVID-19, four of them in intensive care units.

The rate of ongoing cases stands at 187.1 per 100,000 of population, up from 155.1 on Wednesday.

Across Ontario, 5,790 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed Thursday, up from 4,383 on Wednesday.