Ongoing cases up in Southwestern region

Southwestern Public Health was reporting 42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed on Friday, Jan. 15, down from 55 the previous day.

However, the overall number of ongoing cases being tracked by the health unit in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford rose to 385 from 369.

St. Thomas and area increased to 75 cases Friday from 67 Thursday, Bayham to 11 from eight, Central Elgin to six from five and West Elgin to four from three.

Aylmer and area decreased to 38 cases from 41 while Southwold remained steady at six, Dutton Dunwich at one and Malahide at one.

In Oxford, Tillsonburg and area  dropped to 111 from 112. Woodstock and area rose to 46 from 45, Norwich to 39 from 34, East Zorra-Tavistock to 17 from 16, Ingersoll and area to 16 from 14, South-West Oxford to eight from five and Zorra to seven from six.

The infection rate in the Southwestern region stands at 182 cases per 100,000 of population, up from 174.5 Thursday.

Across Ontario, 2,998 new cases were confirmed Friday, down from 3,326 on Thursday.