With two confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Ottawa, many events, services and activities have been cancelled or postponed.
Ottawa Public Health has opened a community assessment centre where people who suspect they have been infected by COVID-19 can get tested.
The centre is located at the Brewer Arena, in Old Ottawa South, and will be operating daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Additional COVID-19 assessment centres may open later as needed, public health said.
As a result of recommendations of social distancing, and against having large gatherings, many organizations have decided to cancel events, classes and activities that might lead to the spread of disease.
Global News has compiled a list of the closures, cancellations in the city of Ottawa to help you plan the coming weeks.
What’s cancelled or postponed:
- All city facilities where residents come together in large gatherings will be cancelled starting March 16 and will be in effect until April 5. The cancellations include libraries, cultural and recreation centres, arenas, pools and public events at city hall. This also applies to third-party event organizers, who have booked events with the city. The city will be refunding the costs of these events.
- All national museums will be closed until further notice. This includes the Canadian Museum of History, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, the Canadian Museum of Nature, the Canadian War Museum, Ingenium and the National Gallery of Canada.
- TD Place has cancelled all of its events for the next several weeks. A TD Place statement said a timeframe for resumption of programming will be assessed “daily as the situation evolves.”
- Carleton University has cancelled all classes March 16 and 17 to allow teaching staff to prepare for other modes of content delivery. Starting Wednesday and until the remainder of the term, all classes will be held online or “other means.” Carelton says professors will be communicating their modes of teaching to their students. All university events have been postponed. Nevertheless, the university is staying open.
- The University of Ottawa has also cancelled classes for March 16 and 17 to allow for professors to prepare for online delivery of their classes. The university has also cancelled all March break camps, the open house for prospective undergraduate students scheduled for March 21. Also, all university-related travel by staff and students is prohibited until further notice and the university is urging faculty not to travel. Any university event that involves visitors arriving from international destinations should be cancelled.
- The National Arts Centre has decided to cancel all of its shows scheduled before April 5. All tickets will be refunded.
- Casino Lac Leamy, in Gatineau, announced Friday they will be closing their doors for “health and safety reasons.” The closure will remain in place until further notice.
- Ottawa St. Patrick’s Day parade, meant to take place Saturday, was postponed until further notice.
- On Thursday, Minister for Education Stephen Lecce announced all publicly funded elementary and high schools would be closed for two weeks following March break, which means all Ontario schools have been ordered to be closed from March 14 to April 5.
- The NHL has suspended its season, so the Ottawa Senators will not be playing.
- The Canadian Tire Centre’s Disney on Ice and the Pearl Jam concert have been postponed.
- Guided tours of the Senate have been cancelled until further notice.
- Guided tours of Parliament are cancelled until April. 14.
This is an evolving list and will be updated with more information as it becomes available.
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