Ottawa's COVID-19 case count takes welcome dip before weekend

Ottawa's COVID-19 counttook a welcome dip Friday with 40 new cases, far fewer than in recent days.

At the same time, Ottawa Public Health (OPH) has declared another77 cases resolved, lowering the number of active cases in the city.

Nearly half of the new cases reported Friday 19 are people in their 20s, while 27 are under 40.

Hospitalizations remain relatively stablewith 13 patients currently receiving treatment, including three in intensive care.

OPH has declared outbreaks at two more schools, cole secondaire publique Louis-Rieland cole lmentaire publique Sraphin-Marion, for a total of seven in the city.

A total of 3,960people have now tested positive for COVID-19 in Ottawa, including551active cases, 3,129 resolved cases and 280 deaths.

The daily reports fromdon't necessarily reflect how many people tested positive for COVID-19 on the day they're made public; rather, they indicate the number of new cases OPH is notified of as of 2 p.m. the previous day.

Elsewhere, the Belleville, Ont., health unit logged its first new case of COVID-19 since Sept. 8, whilethe Renfrew County health unit announced a Pembroke high school that was closed due to an outbreak will reopen Monday.

The number of confirmed cases in the region has now surpassed 6,000.