The province this morning is reporting 496 new COVID-19 cases, with two deaths.
Southwestern Public Health is reporting 24 new cases with 11 resolved. There was one new death, a female Oxford resident in her 70s.
The death toll is now 89 since the pandemic began.
There are six new cases in Bayham, five in St. Thomas and two in Aylmer and West Elgin.
There are 92 ongoing cases in the health unit’s coverage area with 14 in Aylmer and Bayham, 12 in Tillsonburg, 11 in St. Thomas and Woodstock, 10 in Norwich, four in West Elgin, SW Oxford and Ingersoll, three in East Zorra-Tavistock, two in Malahide and Dutton-Dunwich and a single case in Zorra.
A total of 1,345 cases have been variants of concern with 517 confirmed cases of the Delta variant.
Two residents and two staff members at Elgin Manor in Southwold have tested positive.
There are three hospitalizations at this time, with none in ICU. Of the cases hospitalized since the pandemic began, 35.4 per cent were admitted to the ICU.
Sixty-four of the cases are individuals under the age of 50, with 21 of those under the age of 20.
The number of resolved cases is 4,302.
A total of 149,675 residents in the region have been fully immunized or 70.3 per cent.
There are 43.5 ongoing confirmed cases per 100,000 population in the SWPH region as compared to 28.0 per 100,000 in the Middlesex-London Health Unit region. The crude rate for St. Thomas is 28.3 cases per 100,000 population and 186.9 cases per 100,000 population for Aylmer.
The assessment centre at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital undertook 157 tests Wednesday. The West Elgin Community Health Centre did 32 on Tuesday.

