LONDON, ONT. -- The Middlesex-London Health Unit is reporting four new cases of the coronavirus in the region Saturday.

This is a drop from the double-digit increase seen Friday when new cases hit 13.

The sharp rise Friday  prompted the MLHU to ask the province to include London-Middlesex in new gathering restrictions implemented Thursday.

On Saturday, Premier Doug Ford announced that new gathering sizes will be capped at 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors for the next 28 days and possibly longer.

"The alarm bells are ringing," Ford said Saturday in a rare weekend news conference. "We need to take decisive action like we did in the early stages of COVID-19."

Health officials reported 407 new COVID-19 cases in Ontario on Saturday, which is the highest number since June 2 when 446 infections were added.

In Middlesex-London the total case count now stands at 793 and there are 680 resolved cases. The death count remains at 57.

Here is where the case totals stand in other nearby regions based on the most recent publicly available data:

  • Elgin-Oxford – none new, 10 active, 263 cases, 248 resolved, five deaths
  • Sarnia-Lambton – none new, one active, 343 cases, 317 resolved, 25 deaths
  • Haldimand-Norfolk – none new, 14 active, 487 total cases, 442 resolved, 32 deaths
  • Huron-Perth – none new, four active, 127 total, 118 resolved, five deaths
  • Grey-Bruce – none new, three active, 132 total, 124 resolved, no deaths