Ottawa COVID-19 numbers stabilizing as vaccine arrives in Canada

OTTAWA – COVID-19 cases appear to be stabilizing over the weekend as news breaks the newly released coronavirus vaccine arrives in Canada.

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) is reporting one death linked to COVID-19 and confirming 48 people have tested positive for the virus today (Dec. 14).

There are 388 active cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, according to OPH.

Twenty-three people remain hospitalized with the novel coronavirus in the city. Two of those patients are in intensive care.

With no new outbreaks to report, Monday, OPH says there are still 19 institutional COVID-19 outbreaks ongoing (five at local schools), and three community outbreaks stemming from workplaces.

Monday’s reported COVID-19 death brings Ottawa’s pandemic death toll to 386.

There have been 9,105 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa since March, with 8,331 of them resolved.

The first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement just before 8 p.m. Sunday (Dec. 13) night on Twitter, noting while it’s “good news,” the fight against COVID-19 is not over and Canadians must keep up their vigilance.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said some of the 30,000 initial doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be transported to 14 distribution sites across the country Sunday night, with more crossing the border via plane and truck on Monday.

There are distribution sites in all 10 provinces, but none in the territories because health officials say the Pfizer shot’s -70 C storage temperature make it difficult to stock there.

News of the vaccine’s arrival comes as Canada confirmed 5,891 new cases of the virus on Sunday, pushing the total nationwide past 460,000. Another 81 people have died from the virus, raising the overall death toll to 13,431.

Quebec is expected to be the first province to administer the vaccine, saying it’s prepared to start inoculating residents of two long-term care homes as early as Monday.

Other provinces say they’ll vaccinate long-term care residents and front-line health-care workers later in the week.