WEEKLY ROUNDUP: COVID HOSPITALIZATIONS HIT LOWEST POINT SINCE MARCH

The number of people with COVID-19 in Halton's hospitals has dropped below 20 for the first time since March.

As of Friday (May 13), there were 19 people in the region's four hospitals being treated for COVID-19, down from 29 at the same time the previous week. Of those, nine were admitted for COVID-19, while the remainder were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive.

Halton Region reported three COVID-19 related deaths over the past week, two in Oakville and one in Burlington.

At press time, there were119 deaths related to the virus in the region this year and 365 overall.

The region reported 445 lab-confirmed cases over COVID-19 over the past week, an average of 63.6 per day.

Due to the lack of available PCR testing, the labconfirmed cases are only a small percentage of the total cases in the region.

The number of on-going outbreaks in the region dropped from 10 to eight after the region declared outbreaks over at Extendicare Halton Hills long-term care home and Appleby Place retirement home.

Two of Halton's six wastewater sites (Oakville South East and Skyway) showed increases in the presence of COVID-19 while one (Acton) showed a decrease.

The remaining three were stable (showing less than 10 per cent change from the previous week).