One new COVID-19 death

Southwestern Public Health announced on Friday, Feb. 25, that an Oxford woman in her 60s was the 149th resident of Oxford, Elgin and St. Thomas to die in a COVID-related fatality since the pandemic began.

SWPH also reported 73 new cases of the virus had been confirmed since Wednesday, Feb. 23, or an average of 36.5 a day, compared to an average of just over 21 daily during the previous five days.

The number of ongoing cases being tracked by the health unit rose to 262 Friday from 227 Wednesday.

As of Friday, 11 area residents were hospitalized with COVID-19, five of them in intensive care units.

The rate of COVID-19 tests coming back as positive for the virus dropped to 11.7 percent as of Feb. 13 from 13.5 percent as of Feb. 6.

Local ongoing cases of COVID-19 being tracked by the health unit include: 58 in St. Thomas and area; 16 in Aylmer and Malahide; 14 in Dutton Dunwich; 12 in Central Elgin; nine in West Elgin, five in Bayham and one in Southwold.