Only five new cases in Southwestern region Tuesday

Southwestern Public Health was reporting just five new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Tuesday, May 11.

That compared to 58 over the weekend, or an average of just over 19 a day.

The number of ongoing cases being tracked by the health unit stood at 133 on Tuesday, down from 138 on Monday.

In an outbreak at Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital, 11 patients and five staff members have so far tested positive for COVID-19. One of those patients has died.

The number of ongoing cases being tracked by Southwestern in St. Thomas and area increased to 31 on Tuesday from 30 Monday, and in Aylmer and area to nine from eight, while a new cases was discovered in Dutton Dunwich.

West Elgin stayed at eight, Bayham at four and Central Elgin at one.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area fell to 31 from 34, Tillsonburg and area to 28 from 30, East Zorra-Tavistock to five from six, Ingersoll and area to four from five and Blandford-Blenheim to one from two.

Norwich stayed at seven and South-West Oxford at three.

So far this year, Southwestern has found 596 cases of “variants of concern” considered more contagious and/or creating more severe symptoms than the original strain.

Of those, 496 have been resolved and 100 are ongoing.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stands at 62.9 cases per 100,000 of population, down from 65.2 on Monday.

Across Ontario, 2,073 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Tuesday, down from 2,716 on Monday.