By Miranda Chant
May 13, 2020 2:03pm

There has been another COVID-19 related death and three additional cases of the virus in London and Middlesex County, public health officials have confirmed.

The Middlesex London Health Unit said Wednesday a man in his 50s who worked in a local long-term care home is the latest individual to die as a result of the virus. The Ontario Nurses’ Association identified the man as Brian Beattie, a registered nurse at Kensington Village in London. He is the first registered nurse in Ontario to die from COVID-19, according to the trade union.

To date, there have now been 46 deaths from COVID-19 in the London-area, 26 of which are linked to long-term care facilities and retirement homes.

There have been 461 cases of the virus confirmed since the outbreak began. Twenty-four people diagnosed with COVID-19 are under the care of physicians at the London Health Sciences Centre, including one at Children’s Hospital.

The health unit reports the bulk of the cases have been in London where 425 people have been infected. Outside of the city, there have been 19 cases in Strathroy Caradoc, seven in Middlesex Centre, four each in North Middlesex and Thames Centre and one each in Lucan Biddulph and Southwest Middlesex.

A total of 305 area residents have recovered from the virus.

There were no new cases or deaths in Elgin and Oxford counties. Southwestern Public Health, that region’s health unit, reported the number of confirmed cases is holding at 63. There have only been four deaths from the virus between the two counties. Fifty-two of the confirmed cases have since been resolved.

Provincially, the number of new cases continues to hover just over the 300-mark, with 329 more cases reported on Wednesday.

There have been a total of 21,236 confirmed cases across the province. The number of deaths has increased to 1,765, with 40 additional deaths reported over the last 24 hours.

The number of recoveries now stands at 15,845.

Health-care workers account for 3,562 of the confirmed cases. The number of outbreaks in long-term care homes in Ontario is now at 256, an increase of seven from the last epidemiological summary.