COVID-19 outbreak at Belleville General Hospital now over

A novel coronavirus outbreak announced earlier this month at Belleville General Hospital has ended.

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health said that as of April 14, the outbreak is officially over.

COVID-19 was first detected at the hospital on April 1 when two patients sharing a double room were diagnosed with the disease.

The April 1 cases prompted Quinte Health Care to put 30 hospital workers in self-isolation.

Two weeks after the fact, no other patients or staff have tested positive for the virus, and the cases of the two patients have now been resolved, according to Quinte Health Care.

COVID-19 numbers for Hastings and Prince Edward counties have mostly plateaued over the last week. There were a total of 26 lab-confirmed cases of the virus in the region as of April 10, and no new cases have been detected since.

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The public health unit does estimate that there are around 260 “probable cases” of COVID-19 still active in the region.

It defines probable cases involving people who have not been tested, but who may be exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 and who have travelled outside of Canada, have had close contact with a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19, or have had close contact with a person who has acute respiratory illness and has travelled outside of Canada within 14 days prior to the onset of illness.