13 new COVID-19 cases in London region as hours reduced at assessment centre

There are 13 new cases of COVID-19 in the London region, the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) has confirmed, bringing the total to 79 cases.

While the health unit did not provide details about the new cases, London Health Sciences Centre said there are18 patients with COVID-19 at its two hospitals.Ten of them are in critical care, up from just four on Wednesday.

Despite the new cases, the MLHU will be reducing the hours at one of its two COVID-19 assessment centres.

The assessment centre at Oakridge Arena will no longer be open on weekends as officials have seen a drop in visitors.

"The decision to go with Monday to Friday service at the Oakridge Assessment Centre is to align with the change we've seen in both the volume and timing of visits to the centre," said Dr. Alex Summers, the region's associate medical officer of health, in a statement.

"While this change is being made now, we will still have the option of scaling up should the demand reflect that need."

In the meantime, the Carling Heightsassessment centre will not see a change to its hours. Both assessment centres primarily triage people with concerns about their symptoms, but tests may be done if health officials deem necessary.

New cases across region

Southwestern Public Health has announced three Oxford County women, one in her 30s and two in their 50s, tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Officials said they are still working on finding out how the women caught the virus, with the total number of cases sitting at seven in Oxford County.

Two people from Stratford also tested positive for the virus, according to Huron Perth Public Health, but officials did not provide any additional information.

In Grey Bruce, health officials confirmed an additional case. The man in his 30s remains in self-isolation, bringing the total to 15 cases.

Ontario saw an increase of 401 new cases on Thursday as the number of confirmed cases rose to 2,793 across the province.

There are 167 patients with COVID-19 in critical care, and 112 of them are on a ventilator, according to the provincial health officials.