KENORA – The Northwestern Health Unit reported five new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, with the number of active cases on the rise.
Four of the newest cases were in the NWHU’s Kenora health hub, and one was in the Sioux Lookout health hub.
There were 55 active cases confirmed across the health unit’s catchment area as of Saturday, up from 42 on Thursday (the health unit provided a daily case count but did not update its data on Friday, a statutory holiday).
Of the active cases, 21 were in the Sioux Lookout health hub, 16 in the Kenora hub, 14 in the Dryden hub, and one each were in the Fort Frances and Red Lake hubs. A full list of communities in each NWHU health hub is available at the agency’s website.
Seven NWHU residents were hospitalized with the virus as of Saturday, a figure that remained unchanged since Thursday.
The NWHU had an incidence rate of 43.3 cases per 100,000 people for March 24 to 30, the most recent week reported by Public Health Ontario. That compares to an incidence rate of 105.4 for the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, and 108.6 province-wide for the same period.
The health unit had a testing positivity rate of 1.81 per cent for the week of March 22 to 28, with 1,878 tests completed.
As of Saturday, the NWHU had reported a total of 706 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Of those, 55 were active and 651 were resolved.
The health unit reports six COVID-19 related deaths, though it notes that includes those who had the virus at the time of death but died of another cause.
