COVID-19 levels in Ottawa continue to climb on Monday, with a jump in new cases and other key metrics in the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Ottawa Public Health reported 184 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, following increases of 126 cases on Sunday and 133 cases on Saturday. The seven-day average of new cases in the city now stands at 115.9 per day, according to OPH.
The total number of coronavirus cases during the pandemic has now surpassed 17,000 locally.
Active COVID-19 cases in Ottawa also passed 1,000 over the weekend, rising even higher to 1,133 as of Monday.
One new person has died in connection with COVID-19 in Ottawa, raising the local death toll in the pandemic to 260.
Public Health Ontario reports there are now 521 cases of COVID-19 screened as likely variants of concern. Twenty-three cases are reported to be the B.1.1.7 variant, the one that was first identified in the U.K., while five others are confirmed as the B.1.351 variant, which has been traced to South Africa.
The number of people in hospitals with COVID-19 in Ottawa also rose to 36, up from 29 on Friday. A third of those patients are in the intensive care unit, compared with eight at the end of last week.
Ottawa, which entered Ontario’s red zone on March 19, has not shown any signs of slowing the spread of the virus locally since then.
Ottawa’s coronavirus positivity rate stands at 5.0 per cent as of Monday, double the threshold of 2.5 per cent needed to put a city in the red zone.
The COVID-19 incidence rate in Ottawa also stands at 76.9 cases per 100,000 people, compared to the bar of 40 cases per 100,000 population needed for the red level.
The city’s longest ongoing coronavirus outbreak at The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus remains open to start the week, with 48 COVID-19 cases and nine patient deaths now connected with the outbreak.
Outbreaks were also recently declared at two retirement homes and two community sites. There are 44 ongoing coronavirus outbreaks in Ottawa as of Monday.
Ottawa health workers have now administered 120,924 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, with more than 10,000 people receiving a jab since Thursday.
The city received a shipment of 2,700 Moderna vaccine doses on Friday, according to OPH.
Nepean MPP Lisa MacLeod said over the weekend that the nation’s capital will be included in Ontario’s plans to expand vaccine distribution to additional pharmacies in the province.
All Ottawa residents aged 70 and older can also book a vaccine appointment via the provincial booking system as of Monday.
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