OTTAWA -- Ottawa Public Health says 59 more people in Ottawa have tested positive for COVID-19.

No new deaths were reported on Tuesday, locally.

According to OPH, the city has seen 15,696 total laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the first case was confirmed on March 11, 2020. The pandemic death toll stands at 449 residents.

There were 1,074 newly reported cases of COVID-19 across the province on Tuesday. The province also reported 11 new deaths and 1,085 newly resolved cases across Ontario.

No new variants of concern were confirmed in Ottawa on Tuesday. To date, the province says Ottawa has seen 14 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant and two confirmed cases of the B.1.351 variant. Twenty-one new cases are suspected variant cases. There have been 180 cases in Ottawa suspected of being a variant of concern.

The city remains in the "Orange-Restrict" level under Ontario's COVID-19 framework, but some key indicators are within "Red-Control" parameters, including the rate of new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days and the average testing positivity rate. The estimated reproduction number remains below the "Red-Control" threshold.

COVID-19 CASE DISCREPANCY

Public Health Ontario reported 66 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Tuesday, compared to 59 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 Tuesday, Ottawa Public Health reported a total 15,696 laboratory-confirmed cases in Ottawa, while Public Health Ontario reported 15,664 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): 46.3 (up from 45.5 on Monday, 43.7 on Sunday and 40.1 on Saturday)
  • Positivity rate in Ottawa: 2.5 per cent (March 8-14)
  • Reproduction number: 1.07 (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 20 people in Ottawa-area hospitals with COVID-19 related illnesses, down from 21 on Monday.

Four people are in the intensive care unit, down from five.

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 but fell slightly on Tuesday. There are 620 active cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, down from 626 on Monday. 

Sixty-five more Ottawa residents have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19. Ottawa Public Health reports 14,627 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 TESTING

Ontario health officials say 28,526 COVID-19 tests were performed across Ontario on Monday.

The Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce says 2,623 swabs were processed at local assessment centres on Monday and labs performed 3,324 tests.

The average turnaround from the time the swab is taken at a testing site to the result is 22 hours.

The positivity rate for the week of March 8 to 14 was 2.5 per cent.

COVID-19 CASES IN OTTAWA BY AGE CATEGORY

  • 0-9 years old: 12 new cases (1,198 total cases)
  • 10-19 years-old: 4 new cases (1,957 total cases)
  • 20-29 years-old: 14 new cases (3,414 total cases)
  • 30-39 years-old: 5 new cases (2,209 total cases)
  • 40-49 years-old: 12 new cases (2,022 total cases)
  • 50-59 years-old: 9 new cases (1,896 total cases)
  • 60-69-years-old: 0 new cases (1,131 total cases)
  • 70-79 years-old: 2 new cases (691 total cases)
  • 80-89 years-old: 0 new cases (707 total cases)
  • 90+ years old: 0 new cases (467 total cases)
  • Unknown: 1 new case (4 cases total)

COVID-19 CASES ACROSS THE REGION

  • Eastern Ontario Health Unit: 10 new cases
  • Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Public Health: 7 new cases
  • Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit: 7 new cases
  • Renfrew County and District Health Unit: 2 new cases
  • Outaouais (Gatineau and western Quebec): 23 new cases

INSTITUTIONAL OUTBREAKS

Ottawa Public Health is reporting COVID-19 outbreaks at 34 institutions in Ottawa, including long-term care homes, retirement homes, daycares, hospitals and schools.

An outbreak at a shelter that began on Feb. 22 and led to 23 cases and one death has ended. An outbreak at the Forest Hill long-term care home is also over. There were two confirmed staff cases total.

One new outbreak was declared Tuesday at Séraphin-Marion French public school.

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)
  12. École élémentaire publique Séraphin-Marion (March 14) (NEW)

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