New and ongoing cases go down

Southwestern Public Health reported Monday, May 17, 36 new cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford from the weekend or an average of 12 a day, compared to 24 new cases announced on Friday.

The number of ongoing cases being tracked by the health unit fell to 124 Monday from 138 on Friday.

St. Thomas and area decreased to 19 ongoing cases on Monday from 25 on Friday, Aylmer and area to four from eight and West Elgin to four from six.

Bayham rose to four from three, while Central Elgin remained at five and Dutton Dunwich at one.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area dropped to 36 from 40, Tillsonburg and area to 22 from 23, Ingersoll and area to eight from 10 and Norwich to four from six.

Six new cases appeared in Zorra, while Blandford-Blenheim stayed at five, East Zorra-Tavistock at four and South-West Oxford at four.

So far this year, Southwestern has identified 666 cases in its region connected to “variants of concern” considered more contagious and/or creating more severe symptoms than the original strain of COVID-19.

Of those, 587 have been resolved and 79 are ongoing.

Currently, six Southwestern residents are hospitalized with COVID-19, with three of them in intensive care units.

An outbreak at Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital continues. So far, 15 patients there and five staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. One patient has died.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stands at 58.6 cases per 100,000 of population, down from 65.2 on Friday.

Across Ontario, 2,170 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Monday, compared to 2,199 on Sunday and 2,584 on Saturday.