MIDDLESEX CENTRE, ONT. -- The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) is reporting 62 new COVID-19 cases and one death Wednesday.

The death was a woman in her 40s, not associated with a long-term care or retirement home.

The region now has a total of 11,729 cases and 215 deaths, with 10,910 cases resolved leaving 604 active - a number that has been steadily declining.

The number of cases is up slightly from daily counts earlier this week, which have ranged from 26 to 56 since Saturday.

For the week ending May 15, the weekly percent positivity in Middlesex-London declined to 4.6 per cent, while the provincial rate for the same period was 7.2 per cent.

This is the fifth straight week that the percent of individuals testing positive has declined, after peaking at 7.8 per cent in early April during the worst of the third wave, although the number of tests being done has also declined.

There are now 2,625 cases with a variant of concern – almost all the B.1.1.7 variant that originated in the U.K.

As of Tuesday, over 50 per cent of adults in Middlesex-London have received at least one vaccine dose, and the MLHU is asking residents to "keep this momentum going!"

There are currently four active outbreaks at seniors' facilities in the region and one at a child-care centre.

Meanwhile, Southwestern Public Health continues to deal with two outbreaks; at Caressant Care Nursing Home in Woodstock there have been 10 cases and one death, while at Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital there have been 19 cases and one death.

Here are the most recently available numbers from other local public health authorities:

  • Elgin-Oxford – 14 new, 102 active, 3,689 total, 3,501 resolved, 79 deaths, 698 variants
  • Grey-Bruce – three new, 54 active, 1,304 total, 1,243 resolved, seven deaths, 357 variants
  • Haldimand-Norfolk – three new, 114 active, 2,568 total, 2,407 resolved, 42 deaths (one new)
  • Huron-Perth – eight new, 75 active, 1,740 total, 1,609 resolved, 56 deaths (one new), 220 variants
  • Sarnia-Lambton – 14 new, 71 active, 3,427 total, 3,298 resolved, 58 deaths, 526 variants

To date, an ongoing outbreak at Bluewater Health has seen nine cases but no deaths.

Across Ontario, new infections were below 2,000 for the second day in a row, with 1,588 new cases reported Wednesday.