Three confirmed patients still remain hospitalized.

THUNDER BAY – Thirty-six of the Thunder Bay District Health Unit’s 51 COVID-19 cases have been resolved.

However, three patients remain in hospital battling the virus, which has killed more than 175,000 world-wide.

A man in his 50s, who contracted the virus at Lac Des Iles Mine, a woman in her 50s whose exposure category is still pending, and a man in his 70s from a First Nations community are all still being treated in hospital.

Dr. Stewart Kennedy, who heads the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre’s COVID-19 response team, on Monday said the hospital had 11 patients being treated and observed in ward 3A, the unit set up to deal exclusively with presumptive and confirmed coronavirus cases.

Kennedy said the number of presumptive cases had dropped from 28 to 19, thanks to better turnaround times on testing.

Kennedy added the hospital does plan to expand surgeries this week, including endoscopies.