St. Thomas man in his 70s latest COVID death

Southwestern Public Health announced Wednesday, March 23, that a St. Thomas man in his 70s had become the 154th death related to COVID-19 since the pandemic began in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford.

The health unit also reported 57 new cases of the virus had been confirmed over the previous two days, versus 60 over the three days of last weekend.

SWPH is currently tracking 213 ongoing cases in its area, up from 203 Monday.

Six Southwestern residents are hospitalized with COVID-19, one of them in an intensive care unit.

An outbreak has been confirmed at the Aylmer Retirement Residence, so far involving three residents.

The rate of COVID-19 tests coming back as positive for the virus climbed to 13.4 percent as of March 13, the latest data available, up from 11.7 percent as of March 6.