THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay District Health Unit reported five new COVID-19 cases Saturday, with the active case count falling to 37, its lowest level since November 15, 2020.
Of the new cases, four were in Thunder Bay and surrounding areas, while one was in a district First Nation.
Two were considered a result of close contact, two had no known exposure, and an exposure category for the final case was still pending.
No new COVID-related deaths or hospitalizations were reported Saturday.
There were three district residents in hospital with the virus, with one of those in the Intensive Care Unit.
COVID-19 variants of concern have been identified in another seven previously-announced cases, the TBDHU announced Saturday. A total of 57 cases of VOCs, which are more contagious and in some cases more deadly, have been confirmed in the health unit so far.
The health unit's incidence rate declined to approximately 21.34 cases per 100,000 people over the past week. That compares to a provincial rate of 159.6 in most recent Public Health Ontario data for the week of April 27 to May 3.
The health unit has reported a total of 3,136 cases since the pandemic began. Of those, 37 were active and 3,037 were considered resolved, while the virus was an contributing or underlying cause of 62 local deaths.
