Outaouais sees spike in COVID-19 cases over past week

OTTAWA -- A 12^th person has died of COVID-19 in the Outaouais.

The CISS de l’Outaouais provided no other details about the death on Thursday.

There has been 450 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in west Quebec.  The majority of the cases are in Gatineau.

The CISSS de l’Outaouais says there has been 84 new cases of COVID-19 in the Outaouais region since May 14.

In a statement, the health unit says the increase cannot be attributed only to the gradual relaxing of COVID-19 rules in Quebec. Other factors include encouraging people with symptoms associated with COVID-19 to be tested for the virus and wide-scale screening where there are confirmed cases of COVID-19 in long-term care homes or hospitals.

Health officials say 261 people have now recovered after testing positive for the virus.