MLHU reports five new COVID-19-related deaths Tuesday

COVID-19-related deaths by week are seen in this Middlesex-London Health Unit graph captured Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022.

The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) is reporting five new COVID-19-related deaths as the number of new cases and hospital inpatients declined.

The region has now seen a total of 305 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

The new deaths include: two women in their 60s, one associated with a long-term care home, a man in his 70s, a woman in her 90s and a man in his 90s associated with a retirement home.

The deaths come as the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reports a decline in inpatients with COVID-19 to 149 from 155 on Monday.

There are 28 patients in the Intensive Care Unit and five or fewer at Children's Hospital, with none in pediatric Critical Care.

Of those with COVID-19 at LHSC, 89 are being treated for COVID-19 while 60 are being treated for other issues but have also tested positive.

The number of COVID-positive staff is at 205 and there are seven active outbreaks at LHSC.

At St. Joseph's Health Care, the number of workers who are positive has dropped to 64, while the number of positive patients/residents is at 12. An outbreak at Parkwood Institute continues, while another at Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care has been declared over.

As of Saturday, 1,074,004 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Middlesex-London.

Of those eligible age five and over, 89.9 per cent have now received at least one dose and 84.9 per cent are fully vaccinated, while 46.1 per cent have received a booster dose.

Among the youngest group ages five to 11 years old, 57.3 per cent have received one dose and 22 per cent are fully vaccinated. That's up from 47.6 per cent with a single dose and 3.8 percent with two doses as of Jan. 1.

REGIONAL COVID-19 COUNTS

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

Ontario health officials report there are 3,091 people in hospital with COVID-19 across the province, with 568 in intensive care.