4 COVID-19 deaths reported by MLHU over the weekend

The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) is reporting four new deaths related to COVID-19 and 257 new cases of the virus since Friday.

Three of the deaths, all vaccinated individuals, are from Saturday. They include a woman in her 90s from a long-term care home, a woman in her 80s and a woman in her 70s, neither associated with a long-term care or retirement home. The death reported on Saturday was an unvaccinated person in their 50s.

Of the new cases, 113 were reported Saturday, 80 on Sunday and 64 on Monday.

The City of London currently has the most number of active cases with 1,152, Strathroy-Caradoc has 55, followed by Thames Centre with 51 and Middlesex Centre with 48.

There are currently 15 active outbreaks among hospitals and long-term care and retirement homes.

Staff at London Health Sciences Centre are currently caring for 89 inpatients with COVID-19, 17 of which are in the ICU.

Ten are in the Children’s Hospital with five or fewer in Paediatric Critical Care.

There are now 136 LHSC staff members who have currently tested positive for COVID-19 and as of Feb. 9, there are 69 health care workers at St. Joseph’s who have tested positive for the virus.

REGIONAL COVID-19 COUNTS

Here are the most recently available lab-confirmed COVID-19 case counts from local public health authorities, though officials say testing eligibility rules make these an underestimate of actual cases:

• Elgin-Oxford – 104 new, 384 active, 10,862 total, 10,321 resolved, 147 deaths
• Grey-Bruce –167 active, 5,937 total, 5,726 resolved, 40 deaths
• Huron-Perth – 5,393 total, 91 deaths
• Sarnia-Lambton – 216 active, 9,477 total, 9,141 resolved, 120 deaths

Meanwhile, provincial health officials are reporting a significant drop in the number of people with COVID-19 in hospital and intensive care units on Monday.

The province said 1,369 people are currently in hospital with COVID-19, which is down from the 1,540 reported Sunday. The number of people in ICU also fell from 402 to 394.

It was also announced Monday that Ontario will be moving to the next step of its COVID-19 reopening plan on Thursday, four days ahead of schedule, and will lift proof of vaccination requirements at the beginning of March.