Ottawa’s daily COVID-19 case count dips as Ontario reports highest single-day increase in half a year

Ottawa is seeing a dip in reported new daily COVID-19 cases on a day when Ontario is reporting the highest single daily case increase in more than six months. 

According to Ottawa Public Health’s (OPH) report for Sunday, December 5, the city has 55 new cases of the virus, down from Saturday’s 63.

That means Ottawa represents about 4.6 per cent of all cases reported across the province on Sunday.

This brings Ottawa’s total number of cases to 32,278 since the pandemic started. 

Hospital numbers have also seen a slight decrease with eight patients in hospital (down from 10) but two still in the ICU. 

There are no new deaths to report. 

Active cases, however, did see a jump to 414, up from Saturday’s 398.

There is one new outbreak at a school, bringing the total number of ongoing outbreaks to 20. The outbreak has been declared at Michaëlle-Jean Elementary School with two cases among students.

No new outbreaks, however, have been declared at health-care institutions or in the community, keeping the number of ongoing outbreaks at four and three, respectively. 

The rate of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents has gone up again, this time to 31.9 from 30.

The positivity rate in the community, though, remains at 2.2 per cent.

Public Health Ontario (PHO) has the Eastern Ontario Health Unit reporting 17 new cases on Sunday, up from Saturday’s 14.

The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit also recorded an increase in new cases with 10 new cases, up from Saturday’s five. 

The Renfrew County and District Health Unit, on the other hand, reported a slight decrease in new cases with three, down from the previous day’s four. 

Across the province, 1,184 new cases of COVID have been reported, bringing the total number of cases since the pandemic started to 623,497.

The last time Ontario saw numbers in that ballpark was in May, although 1,053 new cases were reported on Saturday and 1,031 were recorded on Friday.

There are no new deaths to report though. 

And in the last 24 hours, 609 cases have resolved. 

Since Saturday, 144 people have been able to leave hospitals, although 140 patients remain.