COVID-19 continues to spread in Greater Sudbury with 10 more positive tests

With 10 new COVID-19 cases reported on Wednesday night, there are now 22 people in Greater Sudbury infected with the virus.

There haven't been this many active cases in the city or northeastern Ontario since the early days of the pandemic.

Public Health Sudbury and Districts says while three of the new cases were exposed to someone who recently travelled, the othersevenpeople have noknown exposure to the coronavirus.

"Cases of COVID-19 that are not linked to travel or to other cases means that there is community spread of the virus," medical officer of health Dr. Penny Sutcliffe said in a statement.

"Community spread is one of the measures used by the province's command table to assess how we are doing with reopening. It is something I am very concerned about because no one wants to go backwards."

Six of the new positive tests are from people under the age of 19, an age group which now represents 14 of the 22 active cases in Greater Sudbury.

One of the new people to test positive is an employee at Pioneer Manor, prompting the declaration of an outbreak at the city-owned nursing home.

Public health officials are reaching out to anyone who may have had close contact with a known COVID-19 case and ensuring those who have tested positive remain in self-isolation.