Ottawa Public Health is reporting 63 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Tuesday as testing centres across the city shift to an online booking system.
The local public health unit also reported one new death related to COVID-19, raising the city’s death toll in the pandemic to 295.
There have now been 4,853 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in Ottawa, 805 of which are currently considered active. That’s down from 847 active cases on Monday.
The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 is also down slightly, with 27 patients currently in hospital and five in the intensive care unit.
Four new schools have declared coronavirus outbreaks in the past 24 hours, according to OPH’s COVID-19 dashboard.
The École élémentaire catholique Saint-François-d’Assise, École secondaire catholique Franco-Cité, Prince of Peace Catholic School and École élémentaire catholique Horizon-Jeunesse have all declared outbreaks, raising the number of Ottawa schools currently in outbreak to 11.
Franco-Cité and Horizon-Jeunesse are both especially hard hit in their outbreaks, with more than five people so far testing positive for the virus across staff and students at each of the schools.
There are currently 56 ongoing outbreaks in Ottawa including long-term care homes, retirement residents, schools, daycares and workplaces.
Test booking goes online
Ottawa’s primary testing site, the Brewer Assessment Centre, along with the Moodie and Heron care clinics, have all switched to an appointment-based booking system as of Tuesday morning.
Appointment slots opened up for all three sites as of Monday evening, with the Hôpital Montfort and Queensway Carleton Hospital — which run the Heron and Moodie testing sites, respectively — indicating on Twitter on Tuesday morning that there were still same-day slots available at the centres.
Appointment slots for the next two days open each day at 8:30 p.m. for the Brewer testing site and at 6 p.m. for the care clinics.
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Residents over 18 years of age are asked to book through the primary Brewer COVID-19 assessment centre, while youth and children are still intended to book appointments through the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario system.
Anyone who is seeking a test but does not have access to a computer to make an online booking can call the care clinics directly to book an appointment. There are limited slots available via telephone, as this booking method is intended only for those without internet access.
The numbers to call the Moodie and Heron care clinics for appointments are:
- Moodie: 613-721-4722
- Heron: 613-288-5354
Residents can also arrive on-site at Brewer for a last-minute appointment and “staff will do their best to accommodate,” according to the OPH website.
Brewer will be reserving some “just-in-time” capacity for situations including people who need urgent contact tracing as directed by OPH.
Per the local health unit, residents should only seek a COVID-19 test if they:
- have COVID-19 symptoms
- have been exposed to a confirmed case of the virus
- are a resident or a worker in a setting with a confirmed COVID-19 outbreak, as informed by OPH
- are eligible for targeted testing for long-term care settings
All other information regarding testing options in Ottawa is available on OPH’s website.
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