Ottawa's top doctor urges all residents to 'focus on reducing' COVID transmission
CTV
Ottawa's top doctor is urging all residents to "pause or greatly limit" the size of indoor gatherings as the highly transmissible COVID-19 Omicron variant spreads rapidly through the city.
"Over the coming weeks, everyone in Ottawa must focus on reducing transmission of COVID-19 to get to the other side of this Omicron surge with a more vaccinated, and more protected community," said medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches in a statement on New Year's Eve.
Ottawa Public Health reported 1,508 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Friday, a record number of new cases during the 21-month pandemic. The positivity rate for Ottawa is 28.5 per cent for the week of Dec. 24 to 30.
"The information we have shows us that COVID-19 transmission is increasing at an exponential rate in our community," said Etches.
"With so much COVID-19 in our community and reduced access to testing, we need to treat possible COVID symptoms as if they are a COVID-19 infection."
