LONDON, ONT -- The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) reported 73 new cases of COVID-19 and no additional deaths in the region on Saturday.

Windsor-Essex has had a total of 14,737 confirmed cases of the virus, including 13,888 people who have recovered.

Here’s the breakdown of new cases:

26 cases are close contacts of confirmed cases

18 cases are community acquired

one case is outbreak related

28 cases are still under investigation.

The death toll related to COVID-19 remains at 409 people.

WECHU Medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed gave the weekly epidemiological summary on Friday. Windsor-Essex has had some increase in COVID-19 case counts but the increase is still not at the level seen by the rest of the province.

The most recent completed weekly case rate in the region is 76.5/100,000 with 86.6/100,000 over the most recent seven-day rate.

Dr. Ahmed said from March to now most COVID-19 cases have been acquired through household contacts, however, nearly 32 per cent have been through the community.

“Which is significantly high and we all need to be careful and mindful every time we are out there that every action of ours can put ourselves at risk of acquiring the disease and ensuring we must follow public health measures at all times,” Ahmed says.

The per cent positivity is 5.3 per cent, compared to 5.5 the previous week. The most recent seven days per cent positivity is 6 per cent with the R0 effective at 1.17.

The health unit says there have been 380 preliminary or confirmed Variant of Concern (VOC) cases identified in the region, 121 of the cases are still active.

About 30 per cent of VOC cases are community acquired while 36 per cent are through household contacts.

WECHU says 440 cases overall still considered active.

There are 18 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the hospital including four people in the ICU.

Ahmed says hospitalizations and ICU admissions have been stable in the region but with some case increases that number is a lagging indicator and “can easily change."

There are seven active outbreaks in the region including six at workplaces and one school outbreak at St. John Vianney Catholic  Elementary School.

St. Peter Catholic Elementary School and Centennial Central Public School resolved their outbreaks as of Saturday.