Ottawa adds 82 COVID-19 cases as worrying trend continues

September's COVID-19 surge continued in Ottawa on Thursday with 82 new cases, the second-highest daily count since the pandemic began.

It's the third straight day the city has marked a worrying new record, surpassing numbers unseen since April.

To date, 3,919 people in Ottawa have tested positive for the illness, including 587active cases, 3,052 resolved cases and 280 deaths.

There are currently 14 patients in hospital in Ottawa, three of them in intensive care.

While still relatively low, those numbers have risen steadily, and health officials have said hospitalizations could become the true measure of the pandemic's impact as the second wave takes hold.

Ottawa has its first two hospital outbreaks since the spring: a patient and two staff members at theMontfort Hospital, and two patients at Saint-Vincent Hospital on Cambridge Street.

Fifty of Ottawa's new cases are below the age of 40.

A fifth outbreak has been declared at a school in the city, the latest atLyce Claudel, aprivate school near the Hurdman transit station.

The daily reports from Ottawa PublicHealth (OPH) don'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.

As long waits for testing continueto cause backlogs across Ontario, provincial health officials are recommending only people with symptoms, or those in close contact with some who's tested positive, go to get tested. That echoes advice from OPH.

Provincewide, 409 new cases were reported Thursday.

Elsewhere, 36 newcases were reported in western Quebec, surpassing the previous daily record of 31. Provincewide, 582 new cases were reported across Quebec on Thursday.