2 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa Thursday

Ottawa now has 16 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 258confirmed cases provincewide.

Earlier in the day, Ontario's Ministry of Health confirmed two new Ottawa cases during its daily update, aman in his 40sand a woman in her 60s who had both been to Europe.

On Thursday afternoon, Ottawa's medical officer of health Vera Etches, said there are 16 confirmed positive cases and three more thatare "indeterminate" that means that officials haven't received the final results of a second test, but presume the cases are positive.

All 19 cases in Ottawa are either people who have travelled or people who have hadclose contact with someone who has travelled outside Canada,Etches said.

While the number may seem low, 19 is only a fraction of the number of Ottawans who have travelled recently and may have been exposed to the coronavirus,Etches pointed out.

"We do believe that the virus is in our community, and now is the time to practise social distancing," she said.

Ottawa has seen the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases double sinceSunday.

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All indeterminate cases are treated as positives unless further tests come back negative, Etches said.

One person who was in hospital for COVID-19 in Ottawa has since been released, while one of the new cases is now in hospital, she added.

More assessment, testing facilities

Health officials plan to open a second and possibly a thirdCOVID-19 assessment facility in Ottawa,similar to theBrewer Arenasite,Etches said.D. Aubrey Moodie Intermediate School is being considered as a location, and could open next week, she said.

Along with additional assessment centres, Ottawa will likely see a new testing facility at theEastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association on Smyth Road, where samples will be analyzed.

Etches reiterated her concerns Thursday there could behundreds of people in the city who have the respiratory illness and don't know it.

Testing is important, she said, particularly for health-care workers and vulnerable populations inlong-term care homes and prisons where, if undetected, the virus could spread rapidly.

Social distancing key

Everyone is advised to practise social distancing as much as possible, and those who feel sick should stay home until they feelwell for 24 hours, Etches said. Only those with severe symptoms such asshortness of breathshould go tohospital.

In the Outaouais, the local health authority said it's also considering a second assessment centre to ramp up testing. Centre intgr de Sant et de Services sociaux de l'Outaouais said Thursday it has receivedmore than 100 applications from retired health-care workers offering to return to help during the pandemic.

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Etches expects a similar call to go out to health professionals in Ottawa should the need arise for more staff.

"I don't think anything is off the table," she said.