Ottawa’s surge in coronavirus cases continues heading into the August long weekend as public health officials urge residents to get back to basics to flatten the curve.
Ontario’s coronavirus database recorded 26 new cases in Ottawa out of a total 134 new cases across the province on Friday. Ottawa had the highest daily increase of any region in the province.
The latest results bring the total number of COVID-19 cases in Ottawa to 2,522 since the start of the pandemic.
The number of reported deaths remained unchanged at 264 on Friday.
Ottawa Public Health’s COVID-19 dashboard shows 271 active cases of the virus in Ottawa as of Friday.
There were no new outbreaks declared in Ottawa daycares, care homes or hospitals in the past 24 hours.
Daily double-digit increases in coronavirus cases have become the norm in Ottawa in the past two weeks.
Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa’s medical officer of health, told media Thursday afternoon that the recent resurgence of the virus is not directly linked to entering Stage 2 or Stage 3 economic reopening, but rather is related to a social shift in residents.
She pointed to indoor parties, rather than bar reopenings, as riskier activities accounting for the rapid transmission of the virus.
Etches said residents must get back to basics — meaning physical distancing, handwashing, mask-wearing and staying home while sick — to flatten the city’s coronavirus curve once more.
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