Ottawa COVID-19 positivity rate up to 9.9 per cent as 348 new cases, one new death are confirmed

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) continues to report some of the highest levels of COVID-19 the city has ever seen, as it confirms another 348 cases of the virus in the city with one new death linked to the novel coronavirus.

The number of local COVID-19 hospitalizations is at 96 as of Monday, April 12, up from 81 on Sunday. The number of patients in intensive care is up to 29 from 26. Acute care bed capacity across all Ottawa hospitals is at 96 per cent, while ICUs are 77 per cent full and ICU ventilator beds are at 42 per cent capacity.

Ottawa's weekly COVID-19 incidence rate continues to spike with each passing day — now up to 173.7 per 100,000 residents.

Nearly one in 10 people visiting local COVID-19 assessment centres are testing positive for the virus, as OPH says the city's positivity rate is up to 9.9 per cent. The local positivity rate was at just 2.9 per cent on March 22.

There have now been 20,073 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa (16,978) since March of last year. In the last week alone, OPH has reported 1,832 new cases of the virus. In that same span of time, 476 Ottawans have died because of the novel coronavirus.

OPH says 19 healthcare institutions are dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks, while the number of schools on outbreak status is now up to 17. There are also two childcare centres listed as having COVID-19 outbreaks.

The number of community outbreaks of the novel coronavirus is at 13 in Ottawa, with seven of them linked to restaurants, one stemming from a social event, one from a religious or spiritual organization, and another from sports and recreation.

OPH knows of 2,619 active cases of COVID-19 in the community.

The health unit says the city has administered 89 per cent of the 225,250 COVID-19 vaccine doses it's received to date. OPH's latest vaccination information shows just 2,100 new AstraZeneca shots arriving in the capital on Sunday after the city got 48,740 total doses of various vaccines last week.

Ontario is reporting 4,401 new cases of COVID-19, Monday, including 38 in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit's region, 17 in the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark district and none in Renfrew County.