Five more people have recovered from the novel coronavirus in London-Middlesex and there are no new cases or deaths as of Sunday, the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in the region remains unchanged at 555, the death count stands at 56 and the number of recoveries has risen to 413 — about 74.5 per cent of cases.
The city of London is where 518 of the region’s cases have been reported — about 93 per cent — while 20 cases have been reported in Strathroy-Caradoc and seven Middlesex Centre.
Elsewhere, four cases each have been reported in North Middlesex and Thames Centre, and one each has been reported in Lucan Biddulph and Southwest Middlesex.
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The health unit says the COVID-19 assessment centre at Oakridge Arena in London is changing its hours to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday starting Monday, June 8.
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Three outbreaks remain active — at Kensington Village, Sisters of St. Joseph and Chelsey Park Retirement Community. They were declared April 3, April 17 and May 30, respectively.
At least 19 of the 24 outbreaks that have been declared locally during the pandemic have involved seniors’ facilities.
Local seniors’ homes, which includes both long-term care and retirement homes, have seen 169 cases of COVID-19. This includes 104 residents and 65 staff members. Additionally, 36 people have died.
In terms of total case count, the most severe of the three outbreaks has been at Sisters of St. Joseph, where at least 25 cases have been reported, involving 13 residents and 12 staff members.
Of those, three residents and one staff member have died.
The number of hospitalized patients in the city declined by one to eight as of midnight Friday, according to the most recent update from London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC).
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The figure is a combination of cases at University and Victoria hospitals. It’s not clear whether any patients are in intensive care.
LHSC announced last week that it would stop releasing an updated number of positive cases among staff members unless the tally increased by five or greater. The organization said it was to protect staff privacy.
No new cases, recoveries or deaths were reported Sunday in the region.
Officials with Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) say there are still 68 recoveries, the total number of confirmed cases remains at 75 and no new deaths have been reported since April 22.
Officials say an outbreak at Secord Trails that has left at least eight staff sickened remains active as of Saturday. The long-term care facility in Ingersoll has seen an active outbreak since May 18.
Of the three cases that remain active in the region, one is in Oxford County in Tillsonburg, while two remain active in Elgin County, both in St. Thomas.
As of Sunday, 5,870 tests had been conducted in Elgin and Oxford counties, of which 650 remained pending results.
Huron and Perth
Health officials reported one new case of COVID-19 on Sunday.
There are now 55 reported cases in the region, of which 46 people have recovered and five have died. No new deaths have been reported in the region since April 29.
The newest case was reported in Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh.
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The number of active outbreaks remains at zero. A total of seven have been declared, involving 27 cases.
All but seven of those cases were reported at Greenwood Court in Stratford. An outbreak there saw six residents and 10 staff members test positive, and four people die. It was declared over May 11.
Twenty-six cases have been reported in Stratford, while 13 have been reported in Huron County and 11 in Perth County.
Four cases have been in St. Marys, including the region’s first two.
The health unit said 3,919 tests had been administered in Huron and Perth as of Sunday. Of those, 109 were awaiting test results.
Sarnia and Lambton
One person has died in the area due to COVID-19 as of Sunday, according to Lambton Public Health (LPH).
The deceased was a resident at Vision Nursing Home in Sarnia, where 26 residents and 25 staff members have tested positive for the virus. Ten residents have since died.
LPH says this is the only active outbreak in the area.
Still-positive residents from the home have been moved to Bluewater Health hospital to keep the outbreak from spreading.
Additionally, another person has tested positive for the virus, and there are no new recoveries.
This brings the area’s total number of coronavirus cases to 268, the death toll to 25 and the number of recoveries remains unchanged at 223.
Bluewater Health says it’s treating 11 COVID-19 patients as of Sunday, along with 19 who are suspected positive or are awaiting tests, two fewer than the day before.
Some Ontario doctors have started offering a free shot that can protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus while Quebec will begin its immunization program next month.
The new shot called Nirsevimab gives babies antibodies that provide passive immunity to RSV, a major cause of serious lower respiratory tract infections for infants and seniors, which can cause bronchiolitis or pneumonia.
Ontario’s ministry of health says the shot is already available at some doctor’s offices in Ontario with the province’s remaining supply set to arrive by the end of the month.
Quebec will begin administering the shots on Nov. 4 to babies born in hospitals and delivery centers.
Parents in Quebec with babies under six months or those who are older but more vulnerable to infection can also book immunization appointments online.
The injection will be available in Nunavut and Yukon this fall and winter, though administration start dates have not yet been announced.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
-With files from Nicole Ireland
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free.
Since January, health officials have confirmed 39 new polio cases in Pakistan, compared to only six last year, said Anwarul Haq of the National Emergency Operation Center for Polio Eradication.
The new nationwide drive starts Oct. 28 with the aim to vaccinate at least 32 million children. “The whole purpose of these campaigns is to achieve the target of making Pakistan a polio-free state,” he said.
Pakistan regularly launches campaigns against polio despite attacks on the workers and police assigned to the inoculation drives. Militants falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Most of the new polio cases were reported in the southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province, following by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and eastern Punjab province.
The locations are worrying authorities since previous cases were from the restive northwest bordering Afghanistan, where the Taliban government in September suddenly stopped a door-to-door vaccination campaign.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. Authorities in Pakistan have said that the Taliban’s decision will have major repercussions beyond the Afghan border, as people from both sides frequently travel to each other’s country.
The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That’s up from six cases in 2023. Afghanistan used a house-to-house vaccination strategy this June for the first time in five years, a tactic that helped to reach the majority of children targeted, according to WHO.
Health officials in Pakistan say they want the both sides to conduct anti-polio drives simultaneously.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of people with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter methods like condoms, the “morning after” pill and birth control pills for free under a new rule the White House proposed on Monday.
Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including prescription birth control or even condoms that doctors have issued a prescription for. But the new rule would expand that coverage, allowing millions of people on private health insurance to pick up free condoms, birth control pills, or “morning after” pills from local storefronts without a prescription.
The proposal comes days before Election Day, as Vice President Kamala Harris affixes her presidential campaign to a promise of expanding women’s health care access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to undo nationwide abortion rights two years ago. Harris has sought to craft a distinct contrast from her Republican challenger, Donald Trump, who appointed some of the judges who issued that ruling.
“The proposed rule we announce today would expand access to birth control at no additional cost for millions of consumers,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Bottom line: women should have control over their personal health care decisions. And issuers and providers have an obligation to comply with the law.”
The emergency contraceptives that people on private insurance would be able to access without costs include levonorgestrel, a pill that needs to be taken immediately after sex to prevent pregnancy and is more commonly known by the brand name “Plan B.”
Without a doctor’s prescription, women may pay as much as $50 for a pack of the pills. And women who delay buying the medication in order to get a doctor’s prescription could jeopardize the pill’s effectiveness, since it is most likely to prevent a pregnancy within 72 hours after sex.
If implemented, the new rule would also require insurers to fully bear the cost of the once-a-day Opill, a new over-the-counter birth control pill that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved last year. A one-month supply of the pills costs $20.
Federal mandates for private health insurance to cover contraceptive care were first introduced with the Affordable Care Act, which required plans to pick up the cost of FDA-approved birth control that had been prescribed by a doctor as a preventative service.
The proposed rule would not impact those on Medicaid, the insurance program for the poorest Americans. States are largely left to design their own rules around Medicaid coverage for contraception, and few cover over-the-counter methods like Plan B or condoms.
