COVID-19 hospitalizations and active cases creep up in Ottawa

Ottawa Public Health says 49 more people in the city have tested positive for COVID-19 and the number of patients in local hospitals with the disease continues to rise.

To date, OPH has reported 31,372 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa residents since the pandemic began. No new deaths linked to COVID-19 were reported on Sunday, leaving the city's pandemic death toll at 609 residents.

The number of known active cases of COVID-19 continues to rise, as does the number of people in local hospitals with an active case.

Medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches said last week that many of the people in hospital with COVID-19 are linked to ongoing outbreaks in hospitals and some infections are mild or even asymptomatic.

There are currently four distinct outbreaks in different units of the Ottawa Hospital's Civic Campus and two outbreaks at the General Campus. The outbreaks at the Civic Campus involve at least 37 patients and 13 staff members. Two patients have died. At the General Campus, outbreaks have affected four patients and three staff members. No deaths are linked to these outbreaks.