OTTAWA -- Canadian Blood Services says blood collection in Ottawa, Kingston, and surrounding areas has resumed after an Ottawa facility was briefly shut down over COVID-19.
Blood donation events were cancelled in early February to accommodate a controlled shut down of the Concourse Gate Facility, where five cases of COVID-19 involving employees and contractors had been confirmed.
In an updated statement, Canadian Blood Services said the facility would resume operations Monday.
"All blood collections in Ottawa, Kingston and surrounding areas and cord blood collections at our partnering hospitals in Ottawa and Brampton will resume on Feb. 15," the agency said. "Normal operations at the Concourse Gate facility, including all scheduled activities for collections, production, distribution, logistics, cord blood bank and stem cell manufacturing will also resume on this date."
Donors had been called on or around Feb. 5 and were asked to rebook appointments some time after Feb. 14.
Canadian Blood Services said it worked with Ottawa Public Health to reopen the facility.
"In alignment with a public health inspection result, we have made an assessment that the robust safety measures in place at the facility are appropriate to keep our teams safe and that normal operations can resume," the agency said in a statement. "Because of the adaptability strength of our teams and national business continuity contingencies, we were able to respond to this truly unprecedented situation quickly and safely and continue to provide lifesaving products and services to the patients who rely on us without interruption."
