Royal Ottawa Hospital declares COVID-19 outbreak; 52 new cases across city

Two staff members at the Royal Ottawa Hospital are self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19.

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) is reporting 52 new cases of the virus, city-wide, on Monday, October 19.

Forest Hill Long-Term Care Home, Granite Ridge Care Community, Robertson Retirment Home and Residence St. Louis are four other facilities which have reported new cases of COVID-19 in residents or staff over the weekend.

There are 77 institutions dealing with novel coronavirus cases in Ottawa. OPH says it's also keeping an eye on one ongoing community outbreak.

Nine schools continue to deal with outbreaks of COVID-19. École secondaire catholique Franco-Cité has seen the most cases of the virus, reporting 12 student cases and one staff case since October 5.

OPH is recording no new deaths, Monday, keeping the local pandemic death toll at 303.

There are 759 active cases of COVID-19 in the community.

According to OPH, 48 people remain hospitalized with the virus — eight of whom are in intensive care.

Ontario is reporting 704 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, with four new deaths due to the virus. Health Minister Christine Elliott says 244 cases are in Toronto, 168 in Peel Region, 103 in York Region and 52 in Ottawa.

The latest figures come as the province's chief medical officer of health says trick-or-treating for Halloween is not recommended for children those four hot spots. Dr. David Williams says it's also critical that families not travel outside of their neighbourhoods to celebrate Halloween.

There have been 6,088 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa since March, 5,026 of which have been resolved.