Ottawa Public Health says 63 more people in Ottawa have tested positive for COVID-19 and three more people have died.
The new figures bring the city’s pandemic totals to 26,754 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 561 resident deaths since March 2020.
OPH reported the deaths of two men and one woman between the ages of 60 and 79 on Wednesday. Two of the deaths were linked to a COVID-19 outbreak and one person was infected via close contact.
Fifty-four resident deaths have been reported so far this month.
Across the province, health officials added 1,095 newly confirmed infections and 2,371 newly resolved cases on Wednesday. Another 23 Ontarians have died due to COVID-19. Public Healtj Ontario added 64 cases to its total count for Ottawa. Figures from OPH often differ from Public Health Ontario’s because the two health agencies pull data for their respective reports at different times of day.
Several key indicators of the COVID-19 situation in Ottawa are showing continued signs of improvement. The number of active COVID-19 cases is now below 800, the testing positivity rate is down, and the weekly incidence rate per 100,000 residents is below 50.
Despite the improvement in many key metrics, medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches warned that Ottawa is still at risk of a resurgence in COVID-19 if vigilance is not maintained.
“The level of protection from the COVID vaccine right now is not sufficient,” she said. “We are seeing benefit from the vaccine. We are seeing fewer older adults die, but … the hospital admissions recently are people in their 40s and 50s, and we still want to prevent all the serious illness we can.”
OTTAWA’S KEY COVID-19 STATISTICS
Ottawa entered Ontario’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order at 12:01 a.m. April 8.
Ottawa Public Health data:
COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (May 18 to 24): 49.4 (down from 51.7)
Positivity rate in Ottawa (May 19 to 25): 5.1 per cent (down from 5.7 May 17-23)
Reproduction number (seven day average): 0.90
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.
COVID-19 VACCINES IN OTTAWA
Ottawa Public Health updates vaccine numbers on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
As of May 26:
Ottawa residents with 1 dose: 506,835 (+11,694)
Ottawa residents with 2 doses: 41,652 (+2,098)
Total doses received in Ottawa: 527,650
As of Wednesday, 59 per cent of Ottawa residents 18 and older had received at least one dose of the vaccine.
*Total doses received does not include AstraZeneca doses shipped to pharmacies and primary care clinics.
