Number of cases ticks upward

Southwestern Public Health was reporting 10 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday, Feb. 1, up from eight the previous day.

The total number of ongoing cases in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford now stands at 166, up from 159.

St. Thomas and area rose to 23 cases Monday from 31 Sunday, Bayham to four from three and Dutton Dunwich to two from one.

Aylmer and area remained steady at eight cases, West Elgin at three and Malahide at one.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area increased to 58 from 55 and East Zorra Tavistock to 13 from 12. Norwich stayed steady at 21, Tillsonburg at 17, Ingersoll and area at seven, Blandford Blenheim at three, South-West Oxford at three and Zorra at three.

The infection rate in the Southwestern region is now 78.5 cases for each 100,000 of population, up from 75.2.

Across Ontario, 1,969 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Monday, up from 1,848 on Sunday.