LTC worker, 19, dies of COVID

A London, Ont., teen has become the province’s youngest victim of the virus,

A 19-year-old who worked at a long-term-care home near London, Ont., has died after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

The teenager, identified in news reports as Yassin Dabeh, died on Thursday, making him the first person in Ontario under the age of 20, and the third in Canada, to die from the virus.

Dabeh worked as a contract cleaner at Middlesex Terrace in Delaware, west of London, CTV News reported.

The long-term-care home reported 50 new cases and two other deaths on Saturday.

Dr. Alex Summers, associate medical officer of health for the Middlesex-London Health Unit, told CTV it was a rare and tragic case.

“The investigation to understand exactly what happened continues, and we know a family is grieving and we grieve with them,” Summers said.

Provincewide there were 2,359 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, a drop from 2,662 the day before, according to the latest report released Saturday morning. Another 52 deaths were reported.

The seven-day case average is now down to 2,603 cases daily, or a 125 weekly per 100,000, according to the Star’s Ed Tubb. Ontario’s seven-day average is down to 50 daily.

There are 1,501 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province, including 395 patients in intensive care. There are 299 people on ventilators. Ontario administered 11,161 doses of the vaccine since its last daily update, for a total of 276,146 as of 8 p.m. the previous night.

The province says 57,907 people now have two shots, which means they are fully vaccinated. Locally, Health Minister Christine Elliott says 708 of the new cases are in Toronto, 422 in Peel, 220 in York Region, 107 in Hamilton and 101 in Ottawa. There were more than 63,500 tests completed, Elliott says.

Meanwhile, 24 more residents in long-term care have died for a total of 3,322 since the pandemic began, according to the latest report.

Ontario is reporting seven fewer long-term-care homes in outbreak, for a total of 244 or 39 per cent of LTC homes.

Daily case and death figures may not immediately match the numbers posted by the local public health units due to lags in reporting time.