78 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa
Ottawa Public Health (OPH) reported 78 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, and declared 86 more cases resolved. There have been no additional deaths.
Forty-five patients with COVID-19 are currently being treated in hospital, six in intensive care. Those figures are on par with the current seven-day average, but more than 84 per cent of the city's ICU beds are currently occupied, many by patients being treated for conditions other than COVID-19.
The city's intensive care units were at about 40 per cent capacity earlier this month.
A total of 6,772 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Ottawa, including 698 known active cases, 5,757 resolved cases and 317 deaths.
About 60 per cent of the new cases reported Wednesday are people over 40.
On Tuesday, the city's medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches said there are encouraging signs the spread of the coronavirus is slowing, but asked residents to continue strictly observing protocols to slow it even further.
Ottawa city council officially extended the city's mandatory mask bylaw Wednesday until at least early 2021.
While there's currently space for hundreds more each day at the city's COVID-19 testing sites, local labs are still playing catchup, with nearly 1,500 test waiting more than 24 hours to be processed.
About 2.5 per cent of those tests are currently coming back positive, and OPH is learning of those positive tests within 48 hours 74 per cent of the time.
OPH is reporting a new outbreak at the Ottawa Islamic School, the city's sixth school with an active outbreak.
Elsewhere, there are 43 new COVID-19 cases in the Outaouais, and the Renfrew County and District Health Unit said Tuesday night two employees at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories in Chalk River had also tested positive