WINDSOR, ONT. -- The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is reporting 51 new COVID-19 cases and no additional deaths in the region.
As of Monday, Windsor-Essex has had a total of 13,200 confirmed cases of the virus, including 12,545 people who have recovered.
Here’s the breakdown of new cases:
- 21 cases are outbreak related
- 10 cases are close contacts of confirmed cases
- 3 cases are community acquired
- 17 are still being investigated.
The health unit says 262 cases are considered active. There are 39 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the hospital, with 10 people in the ICU.
According to the WECHU website, there are 27 COVID-19 cases that are considered “Variants of Concern (VOC). One has been identified as the variant first identified in the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7) while the others are not specified.
“We have said this before that we know the variants of concern spread very quickly and we are seeing an increase in the spread of variants of concern throughout the province and our region is also experiencing the same,” medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed says. “That’s why it’s still absolutely important for us to ensure that all these precautions are being followed.”
Ahmed says most of the VOC cases have been identified within the last seven to 10 days but are contained.
He says some of the spread has been within the family of the individuals who initially had the case.
“There are certain changes in how the case and contact management are done based on these variants of concern. So lots of things happening on that spread front so we want to make sure we’re getting this information out as transparent as possible,” Ahmed said of the new addition to the WECHU website.
There are 13 outbreaks in the region, including five at workplaces, three community outbreaks, one hospital outbreaks, one retirement home and two school outbreaks at Monseigneur Jean Noel and Bellewood Public School.
The local death toll related to COVID-19 has reached 393 people.
