COVID-19: Middlesex-London Health Unit reports 12 cases Thursday | Globalnews.ca

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The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported 12 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday as well as six more recoveries, though the local case count increased by 11 to 12,765 cases with 54 active cases, 12,482 recoveries and 229 deaths.

The number of cases involving a variant of concern increased by two to 3,594.

The breakdown of known variant cases is as follows:

• 3,379 cases of the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7), first identified in the U.K.
• 116 cases of the Gamma (P.1) variant, first identified in Brazil
• 93 cases of the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant, first identified in India
• 2 cases of the Beta (B.1.351) variant, first identified in South Africa
• 1 case of the Kappa (B.1.617.1) variant, first identified in India
• 1 case of the Zeta (P.2) variant, first identified in Brazil

There is also one case listed only as B.1.617 and one case listed as B.1.617.3.

A total of 11,543 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in London since the pandemic began, while 374 have been in Middlesex Centre and 334 in Strathroy-Caradoc.

Further information can be found on the health unit’s Summary of COVID-19 Cases in Middlesex-London page.

Hospitalizations

The London Health Sciences Centre says it is caring for seven inpatients with COVID-19, with five or fewer of those patients in the intensive care unit, as of Thursday.

In an effort to protect the privacy of patients, LHSC only provides specific numbers when there are more than five.

LHSC is not reporting any patients from outside of the region.

Fewer than five LHSC employees have tested positive for COVID-19.

At St. Joseph’s Health Care London, the organization is reporting no cases involving patients, residents or health-care workers.

Institutional outbreaks

LHSC reported an outbreak at Victoria Hospital’s B7-200 Adult Inpatient Mental Health/PICU unit on Monday, involving fewer than five cases.

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Vaccinations and testing

The MLHU released updated vaccination data on Tuesday as of the end of the day, July 24.

Of residents aged 12 and older, 80.1 per cent have had at least one dose while 62.8 per cent are fully vaccinated.

According to the MLHU, all deaths reported in since June 15 involved people who were entirely unvaccinated.

All hospitalizations involved people who were unvaccinated, not yet protected from vaccination (infection occurred less than 14 days after first dose), or partially vaccinated (infection occurred more than 14 days after first dose but less than 14 days after second dose).

Of all cases reported since June 15, only 4.2 per cent involve people who were fully vaccinated.

The health unit is also accepting walk-ins for first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccine at its mass vaccination clinics from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Hours and days of operation at many of the mass clinics will reduce starting next month. Full details can be found on our website.

The North London Optimist Community Centre and Earl Nichols Recreation Centre will be closed from July 31 to Aug. 2, reopening on Aug. 3.

Information on how to book and cancel appointments can be found on the health unit’s website.

Information on local pharmacies offering COVID-19 vaccines can be found on the province’s website.

Several pop-up walk-in clinics are scheduled throughout the region. A full list can be found on the health unit’s website.

Anyone looking to be tested for COVID-19 can find information about locations of testing sites on the health unit’s website.

Ahead of the holiday weekend, officials say the Carling COVID-19 Assessment Centre will operate as usual on Monday, Aug. 2, but telephone booking will be unavailable that day.

The test positivity rate in the region was 1.0 per cent for the week of July 18, down from 1.1 per cent for the week of July 11.

Ontario

Ontario reported 218 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, marking the first time the case count surpassed 200 since July 8, when 210 cases were reported.

The total provincial case count stands at 549,952, with 1,424 active cases, 539,200 recoveries, and 9,328 deaths (an increase of three).

According to Thursday’s report, 38 cases were recorded in both Toronto and Peel Region, 25 in Hamilton, 19 in Waterloo, 13 in Grey Bruce, 12 in Halton Region, and 10 in both Middlesex-London and York Region (note that the case counts in the provincial report can differ from public health units due to differences in reporting times).

All other local public health units reported fewer than 10 new cases in the provincial report.

The province says 67.9 per cent of residents age 12 and older are fully vaccinated while 80.0 per cent have had at least one dose.

Elgin and Oxford

Southwestern Public Health reported seven new cases and four recoveries on Thursday.

The total case count stands at 3,946 with 18 active cases, 3,844 recoveries and 84 deaths.

Of the 18 active cases, 11 are in Woodstock and four are in St. Thomas. Per-municipality case counts can be found on the health unit’s dashboard.

One person is currently hospitalized with COVID-19, according to SWPH, but is not in the ICU.

The number of variant of concern cases increased by two to 868, with 764 of those listed as the Alpha variant, 53 the Delta variant and 51 the Beta variant.

There are no active institutional outbreaks reported in the region.

The region’s test positivity rate was 0.4 per cent for the week of July 18, down from 1.1 per cent for the week of July 11.

As of July 27, SWPH says 78.5 per cent of its residents aged 12 and older have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 61.5 per cent have had two doses.

Walk-in appointments are available at all of SWPH’s mass vaccination clinics but appointments can be booked or re-booked through the online booking portal or by phone at 1-800-922-0096 ext. 9.

Anyone who re-books an earlier appointment should make sure they cancel their existing appointment. Appointments at SWPH’s Tillsonburg, Woodstock or St. Thomas mass immunization clinics can be cancelled online.

The health unit is also still encouraging people to add their names to a same-day vaccination list.

Select pharmacies in the region are also continuing to offer COVID-19 vaccine shots.

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Huron and Perth

Global News is awaiting Huron Perth Public Health’s COVID-19 case count data for Thursday, though test positivity information and vaccination data are both available.

As of Wednesday, the total case count in the region was 1,937 with 1,875 recoveries, five active cases and 57 total deaths.

The number of cases involving a confirmed variant of concern rose by three on Wednesday to 348.

Of the five active cases, three were in Stratford while one was reported in both North Perth and Perth South. Case counts by municipality can be found on the health unit’s dashboard.

No one is currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

There were no active institutional outbreaks reported in the region as of Wednesday, but one unidentified workplace outbreak was still listed as ongoing.

The region’s test positivity rate was 1.0 per cent for the week of July 18, up from 0.9 per cent for the week of July 11.

HPPH’s vaccine dashboard showed that as of Thursday, 77.5 per cent of those aged 12 and older have had at least one vaccine dose, while 65.3 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Information on vaccine eligibility and booking an appointment can be found on HPPH’s website.

HPPH says beginning next week, it will be providing more options to get vaccinated, including walk-in clinics, evening hours, pop-up locations and a drive-thru clinic.

More information on where to get a vaccination can be found on the health unit’s website.

Sarnia and Lambton

Lambton Public Health reported one additional case on Thursday and one recovery.

The total case count stands at 3,638 with six active cases, 3,564 listed as recovered and 68 deaths.

The most recent death was reported Monday and involved someone in their 70s.

The number of confirmed variant of concern cases has increased by one to 676.

According to Bluewater Health, there are currently no patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Lambton Public Health is not reporting any active outbreaks in the region.

The region’s test positivity rate was 0.36 per cent for the week of July 18, up from 0.34 per cent for the week of July 11.

As of Thursday, 75.9 per cent of adults have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while 66.8 per cent are fully vaccinated.

LPH is asking everyone who has already received a first dose to book their second dose appointment as soon as possible as the region prepares to wind down mass immunization clinics next month.

Residents who are able to get vaccinated on short notice are encouraged to sign up for Lambton Public Health’s daily Vaccine Standby List.

Residents can book and re-book COVID-19 vaccine appointments using the health unit’s registration page. People can also call the vaccine call centre at 226-254-8222.

Some pharmacies are also continuing to offer Pfizer or Moderna shots.

—With files from Global News’ Kelly Wang and Gabby Rodrigues