Western Quebec smashes one-day COVID-19 case record

The Gatineau, Que., area logged 66 more COVID-19 cases Tuesday, smashing its previous record for new cases in a single daily report.

The one-day high for western Quebec had been 39, set just two days ago.

Gatineau has had more than 80 per cent of the Outaouais region's 1,580cases since the start of the pandemic. The regionhas had nearly 200 more confirmed cases already in October,the second-most among local health units afterOttawa.

As of Monday afternoon, the Hull Hospital's 14-bed COVID-19 had13 patients and wasexpanding to add 26 more beds, according to theCentre intgr de sant et de services sociaux de l'Outaouais (CISSSO), thewestern Quebechealth authority.

A week ago, there were five COVID-19 patients in the hospital.

Western Quebec iscurrentlyunder an orange alert on Quebec's colour-coded scale, and health officials have askedpeople to cut back on the number of their close contacts, or risk going to red alert.

Quebec Health MinisterChristian Dub said Tuesday unspecified regions could move to red if the trends don'tchange.

If that happens, that could mean closing the border with eastern Ontario again, along withother measures.

The 66 new cases are included in thedaily report for Quebec. CISSSO'sreport, which includeshospitalizations and abreakdown by municipality, is usually released by mid-afternoon.

Quebecas a whole set another daily high Tuesday with 1,364 more cases, surpassing Monday's record.

63 cases in Ottawa

In Ottawa, public health officials logged 63 new cases Tuesday, during a week that's seen testing paused at some of its test sites because the province is changing to an appointment-focused strategy.

Part of the reason the province isdoing this is to tackle the backlog of tests waiting to be processed at laboratories. Thereare now more than 55,000 outstanding tests, down from about 68,000 yesterday.

Another reason given by the CEO of Ontario Health Tuesday is that testing by appointment gives the groups in charge of the testing sitesmore flexibility with their resources.

WATCH |Ottawa residents lineup at assessment centres around the city:

Walk-ins continue at assessment centres on first day of appointment-based testing

4 years ago

Duration 1:28

Ottawa residents looking for a test lined up at assessment centres around the city after online searches told them there was limited testing without an appointment.

Ottawa Public Health hasalso had to triage its contact tracing efforts, meaning people considered lower risk will get automated messages instead of a call from a human being.

Its daily report for Tuesday shows 104 more casesare now considered resolved, while one more person with COVID-19 has died.

In all, 4,853 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Ottawa since the start of the pandemic. There have been 295 deaths,3,753 resolved cases and805 known active cases although that last count is likelyaffected by the decision to pause tests.

Twenty-sevenOttawa residentswith COVID-19 are getting treatment in a hospital, down two from Monday. Five people remain in intensive care.

There are now 11 active outbreaks in Ottawa schools, withecole lmentaire catholique Saint-Franois-d'Assise,
cole secondaire catholique Franco-Citand Prince of Peace School the most recent to be added to the list.

About 60 per cent of Ottawa'snewly confirmed cases are people under age 40.