Ottawa Public Health is reporting an increase of 56 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday as the city’s shelters continue to face troubling coronavirus outbreaks.
There have now been 13,815 cases of the novel coronavirus in Ottawa, with 413 of those cases considered active — up slightly from figures on Wednesday.
While Thursday’s case count is the largest single-day increase so far this week in Ottawa, the city’s seven-day average of new cases is now down to 46 per day from 51 cases per day at the start of the week.
No new deaths linked to COVID-19 were reported in the past 24 hours.
OPH added five new coronavirus outbreaks to its dashboard on Thursday, three of which affect undisclosed workplaces, raising the number of ongoing outbreaks in the city to 31.
Six ongoing outbreaks in the city are currently affecting a homelessness shelter. There have been 205 COVID-19 cases linked to these six outbreaks, with one person’s death connected to a shelter outbreak.
Local organizations such as the Shepherds of Good Hope are pushing for people experiencing homelessness to be bumped higher in the COVID-19 vaccine queue, citing their higher risk of contracting and dying in relation to the virus.
The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 in Ottawa remains steady at 19, with four people in the intensive care unit.
OPH’s COVID-19 dashboard shows that 97 per cent of acute care beds are now occupied across the city’s health-care system, with 69 per cent of ICU beds currently in use.
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