11 new COVID-19 cases in Middlesex-London linked to farm outbreak

For the second consecutive day, Middlesex-London has seen a spike in COVID-19 casesafter an outbreak erupted at afarm operation in Elgin County.

On Saturday, the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU)said 11 peopleat Ontario Plants Propagation in St. Thomastested positive for the virus, a day after seven of the farm's migrant workerswere confirmed to be infected with the disease.

While the farm is located in Elgin County, most of the workers live in London, which promptedthe MLHU along with Southwestern Public Health to test more than 40 of the farm's employees andtheir close contacts.

Public health officials said they are working alongside the farm to ensure infection control protocols are set in place, including quarantine measures andscreening procedures.

Leading up to the spike in cases, the region had seen a relatively steady daily case increasethat was averaging to about three cases per day during the last seven-day period.

Saturday's increase brought the region's case tally up to 531. However, a little more than 70 per cent of those cases have been resolved.

Since the outbreak began in late January, 52 people have died from the disease in the region, including staff and residents of seniors' homes.

Cases beyond Middlesex-London

On Saturday, the province reported 323 new cases while it reacheda new record of more than 20,000 tests processed in a day.

Across Ontario more than 27,500 people have contracted the virus and while about 77 per cent of them have recovered, at least 2,247 have died from the virus.

Meanwhile, Southwestern Public Health, which oversees St. Thomas along withElgin and Oxford Counties, reported no new cases Saturday.

The health unit said nine of its 73 cases are active.In the region, 60 people have recovered from the virus, while four have died from it.

Huron and Perth currently have threeactive cases. Over the course of the pandemic, 52 people have been infected and 45 of them have recovered, while five have died.