Ottawa reports 348 new COVID-19 cases following record-setting weekend

COVID-19 levels in Ottawa reached previously unseen highs over the weekend with troubling trends continuing on Monday.

Ottawa Public Health reported 348 new COVID-19 cases on Monday following two consecutive all-time-high increases of 370 cases on Sunday and 325 cases on Saturday.

Ottawa has now passed the 20,000-case mark with a total 20,073 confirmed cases locally.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 2,619 as of Monday.

The past weekend saw a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases confirmed to be mutations or variants of concern, with OPH reporting 2,132 such cases as of Monday, up from 1,623 on Friday.

OPH reported an additional death connected with COVID-19 in Ottawa on Monday, raising the death toll of the pandemic to 476.

There are now 96 people in hospital in Ottawa with COVID-19, 29 of whom are in the intensive care unit.

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Ottawa’s weekly coronavirus positivity rate stands at 9.9 per cent for the period between April 5 and 11, another all-time high for the city.

OPH reports there are 51 ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks in Ottawa, a third of which affect local schools.

Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa’s medical officer of health, said on Friday that surging COVID-19 levels will likely result in schools in the city being closed to in-person learning after this week’s April break.

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She said she will make a final call Wednesday on whether or not schools will be open or go remote-only on April 19.

Ottawa hit a new milestone in its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Wednesday, as one in five adults has now received at least one dose of the vaccine locally.

So far 178,557 Ottawa residents have received the vaccine, with 25,793 of that population having gotten both doses.

More than 85 per cent of those 80 and older in Ottawa have been vaccinated and nearly 75 per cent of those aged 70 to 79 have now received the jab.

In total, Ottawa has received 225,250 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine with 89 per cent of its total inventory now administered.

Ontario announced over the weekend that it would expand the pharmacy pilot program across the province, adding additional sites in Ottawa for residents to receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. A full list of locations offering vaccines is available on the Ontario government’s website.

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