OTTAWA -- Ottawa Public Health says 75 more people in Ottawa have tested positive for COVID-19 and two more people have died.

The new figures bring Ottawa's total COVID-19 case count to 15,637 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 since March 11, 2020 and 449 deaths.

Public Health Ontario said Monday there were 1,286 new cases reported across the province. Ontario also reported nine new deaths provincewide and 1,114 newly resolved cases.

No new cases of any variants of concern were confirmed in Ottawa. To date, Ottawa has seen 14 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant and two confirmed cases of the B.1.351 variant.

Ottawa's key monitoring figures are moving further toward the "Red-Control" level. The incidence rate of new cases per 100,000 population in the last seven days is now above 45 (the red threshold is 40) and the average positivity rate has reached 2.5 per cent. The estimated reproduction number is just under the red threshold of 1.2. 

In the meantime, the city remains within the "Orange Restrict" category.

Speaking to Newstalk 580 CFRA's "Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron", Health Minister Christine Elliott said it was still too soon to say whether Ottawa would be moved to the "Red-Control" zone this week.

"We can't say right now, even though I know it's something that we're watching very carefully because there has been an increase but there was the same situation a week or so ago and the numbers came down again so we have to wait and see what's going to happen with the counts," she said.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams will advise province "after Tuesday evening," she said.

Moving to "Red-Control" would cut gathering limits to five people indoors and 25 outdoors, allow only 10 people inside restaurant dining rooms at a time, and cut capacity limits for retail establishments to 75 per cent for supermarkets that sell groceries and 50 per cent for most other stores, including big box retailers, among other restrictions.

The province typically announces which health units are moving to different levels on Fridays, with the changes coming into effect the following Monday.

COVID-19 CASE DISCREPANCY

Public Health Ontario reported 57 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Monday, compared to 75 new cases announced by Ottawa Public Health.

Ottawa Public Health has previously said the case discrepancy is based on when the case data is collected from the system.

On Monday, Ottawa Public Health reported a total 15,637 laboratory-confirmed cases in Ottawa, while Public Health Ontario reported 15,598 cases.

OTTAWA'S KEY COVID-19 STATISTICS

Ottawa is in "Orange-Restrict" status under Ontario's COVID-19 framework.

Ottawa Public Health data:

  • COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 45.5 (Up from 43.7 on Sunday and 40.1 on Saturday)
  • Positivity rate in Ottawa: 2.5 per cent (March 8-14) 
  • Reproduction number: 1.10 (seven day average)

Reproduction values greater than 1 indicate the virus is spreading and each case infects more than one contact. If it is less than 1, it means spread is slowing.

The orange-restrict category of Ontario's COVID-19 framework includes a weekly rate of cases per 100,000 between 25 to 39.9, a percent positivity of 1.3 to 2.4 per cent, and a reproduction number of approximately 1 to 1.1.

The red-control threshold is a weekly incidence rate of 40 cases per 100,000 people and a positivity rate of 2.5 per cent and a reproduction number of 1.2 or more.

VACCINES IN OTTAWA

As of March 15:

  • Vaccine doses administered in Ottawa (first and second shots): 77,423 (up by 4,414 since Friday)*
  • COVID-19 doses received (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna): 86,640 

OPH says a shipment of 6,100 doses of the Moderna vaccine arrived on March 13.

*OPH says staff were able to extract additional doses out of several vials, which were given to residents. In a statement on its dashboard, OPH said, "Vaccine inventory is based on an expected 5 dose per vial supply. Occasionally, an additional dose (6th dose) is successfully extracted and administered to clients." 

The head of Ottawa's vaccine rollout task force, Anthony Di Monte told CTV News at Six that more than 4,000 people booked appointments for vaccines through the province's online portal on Monday.

HOSPITALIZATIONS IN OTTAWA

There are 21 people in Ottawa-area hospitals with COVID-19 related illnesses, down from 36 on Sunday.

Five people are in the intensive care unit.

Ottawa Public Health is currently migrating its dashboard over to the provincial system, so data on the ages of the people currently in the hospital is unavailable.

ACTIVE CASES OF COVID-19 IN OTTAWA

The number of active cases in Ottawa of COVID-19 remains above 600. There are 626 active cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, up from 611 active cases on Sunday. and 595 on Saturday.

Fifty-eight more Ottawa residents have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19. Ottawa Public Health reports 14,562 resolved cases of COVID-19 in the capital.

The number of active cases is the number of total cases of COVID-19 minus the numbers of resolved cases and deaths. A case is considered resolved 14 days after known symptom onset or positive test result.

COVID-19 CASES IN OTTAWA BY AGE CATEGORY

  • 0-9 years old: 13 new cases (1,186 total cases)
  • 10-19 years-old: 20 new cases (1,953 total cases)
  • 20-29 years-old: 11 new cases (3,400 total cases)
  • 30-39 years-old: 10 new cases (2,204 total cases)
  • 40-49 years-old: 4 new cases (2,010 total cases)
  • 50-59 years-old: 8 new cases (1,887 total cases)
  • 60-69-years-old: 4 new cases (1,131 total cases)
  • 70-79 years-old: 4 new cases (689 total cases)
  • 80-89 years-old: 1 new case (707 total cases)
  • 90+ years old: 0 new cases (467 total cases)
  • Unknown: 0 new cases (3 cases total)

COVID-19 TESTING

Ontario health officials say 33,975 COVID-19 tests were performed across Ontario on Sunday.

The Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce says 1,184 swabs were processed at local assessment centres on Sunday and labs performed 2,557 tests.

The average testing positivity rate for March 8 to 14 is 2.5 per cent.

The average turnaround from the time the swab is taken at a testing site to the result is 28 hours.

COVID-19 CASES ACROSS THE REGION

  • Eastern Ontario Health Unit: 13 new cases
  • Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Public Health: 2 new cases
  • Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit: 19 new cases
  • Renfrew County and District Health Unit: Zero new cases
  • Outaouais (Gatineau and western Quebec): 19 new cases

INSTITUTIONAL OUTBREAKS

Ottawa Public Health is reporting COVID-19 outbreaks at 35 institutions in Ottawa, including long-term care homes, retirement homes, daycares, hospitals and schools.

There are three active community outbreaks: Two are linked to a warehouse and one is linked to a multi-unit dwelling.

The schools and childcare spaces currently experiencing outbreaks are:

  1. Rodnichok Daycare (March 1)
  2. École secondaire publique Gisèle-Lalonde (March 3)
  3. Mac Child Care Centre – Abraar (March 3)
  4. Gloucester High School (March 5)
  5. Ottawa Torah Institute (March 7)
  6. École secondaire catholique Paul-Desmarais (March 8)
  7. Steve MacLean Public School (March 8)
  8. Holy Spirit Elementary School (March 10)
  9. École élémentaire publique Julie-Payette
  10. École élémentaire catholique Riverside South II (March 12)
  11. École secondaire catholique Pierre Savard (March 13)

The long-term care homes, retirement homes, hospitals, and other spaces currently experiencing outbreaks are:

  1. Group Home (Jan. 26)
  2. Shelter (Jan. 27)
  3. Rockcliffe Retirement Residence (Feb. 18)
  4. The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus (Feb. 19)
  5. Shelter (Feb. 22)
  6. Forest Hill LTCH (Feb. 23)
  7. Shelter (Feb. 24)
  8. Extendicare Laurier Manor LTCH (Feb. 25)
  9. Madonna Care Community (Feb. 26)
  10. The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus (Feb. 26)
  11. Sarsfield Colonial Home (Feb. 27)
  12. Group Home (March 3)
  13. Bearbrook Retirement Residence (March 4)
  14. Perley-Rideau Veterans' Health Centre – Gatineau Building (March 4)
  15. Riverpark Retirement Residence (March 6)
  16. St. Vincent Hospital (March 6)
  17. Extendicare Medex LTCH (March 9)
  18. Peter D. Clark LTCH (March 10)
  19. Group Home (March 11)
  20. Lord Lansdowne RH (March 11)
  21. Amica Westboro Park RH (March 12)
  22. University of Ottawa Heart Institute (March 12)
  23. Chapel Hill RH (March 13)
  24. The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus (March 13)

A single laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 in a resident or staff member of a long-term care home, retirement home or shelter triggers an outbreak response, according to Ottawa Public Health. In childcare settings, a single confirmed, symptomatic case in a staff member, home daycare provider, or child triggers an outbreak.

Under provincial guidelines, a COVID-19 outbreak in a school is defined as two or more lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in students and/or staff in a school with an epidemiological link, within a 14-day period, where at least one case could have reasonably acquired their infection in the school (including transportation and before or after school care).

Two staff or patient cases of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 within a specified hospital unit within a 14-day period where both cases could have reasonably acquired their infection in hospital is considered an outbreak in a public hospital.