covid-19 levels remain elevated in ottawa, the city’s health department says in its weekly update.
ottawa public health reported 29 new deaths in the region. however, that updated noted the increase was due to a change in what coroners now consider a covid death.
the new definition added 25 deaths to the toll, bringing the reported resident covid deaths in ottawa to 1,171 since the pandemic began in 2020. the new definition also added 14 additional confirmed cases to ottawa’s total, bringing it to 95,543.
a confirmed case of covid-19 in ontario now includes anyone who died and for whom the coroner determined covid-19 caused or contributed to a person’s death. in previous case definitions, there was no reference to cause of death, but rather it was based on specific test criteria. since testing is no longer widely done and reported, overall case numbers are considered to be an underestimate.
there were 18 new outbreaks reported in institutions in ottawa, bringing that total to 38.
in all, oph reported 292 more covid cases in the past week.
ottawa public health said 79 people were in hospital due to covid-19, with two of them in intensive care.
additionally, 22 people were in hospital due to influenza, with that number being unchanged from last week, and 102 were hospitalized for respiratory syncytial virus, or rsv, an increase of 10.