WINDSOR, ONT. -- The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is reporting 15 additional deaths and 173 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

Medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed says nine deaths were from the community - a woman in her 50s, two men and a woman in their 60s, three women and a man in their 70s, and a woman in her 80s.

Six deaths were from long-term care or retirement homes - a man in his 60s, a man in his 70s, a man in his 80s and three women in their 90s.

The local death toll related to COVID-19 has reached 271 people.

Ahmed says despite the high number of new cases on Tuesday, the weekly average is improving. There were just 35 new cases reported on Monday.

“We continue to see day to day fluctuations, but overall we can see the seven-day moving average is stabilizing,” says Ahmed. “We will continue to report the most up to date data to the community to keep everyone aware, but please note that our epidemiological study every Friday is a much better way to understand the COVID-19 spread in the region.”

Windsor-Essex has had a total of 11,230 confirmed cases, including 8,439 people who have recovered.

Here’s the breakdown of new cases:

  • 15 are related to outbreaks
  • 12 are close contacts of confirmed cases
  • 2 are from the community
  • 144 are still under investigation

WECHU says 2,519 cases are considered active. There are 121 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the hospital and 17 people are in the ICU.

There are 53 local outbreaks - 21 outbreaks at long-term care or retirement homes, 27 workplace outbreaks, four hospital outbreaks and one community outbreak.