The region is in the seventh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic driven by the BA.5 coronavirus subvariant. It's the first early-summer wave.

Ottawa Public Health specifically wants people to limit contacts, consider masking in crowded outdoor areas as well as inside and asks businesses to consider bringing back policies such as mandatory masks.

The local health-care system is again being strained by the combination of the pandemic load and staff shortages.

Last week 29 ED patients waited overnight for an inpatient bed – we rarely see that high a #. This impacts wait times, as there are fewer spaces left in ED for new patients. While we try our best to ensure patients are seen as soon as possible, some have waited upwards of 12 hrs.

The average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater is very high. It rose for more than a month starting in early June and has slowly dropped eight of the last 10 days of data.

That average as of July 24 is about two times higher than it was a month ago and about 15 times higher than a year ago.

Thirty-five Ottawa residents have been admitted to a city hospital with COVID-19, according to OPH's latest update. 

Three of those patients are in intensive care.

One year ago, there were three of these hospital patients and two years ago, there were nine.

The hospitalization figures above don't include all patients. For example, they leave out patients admitted for other reasons who then test positive for COVID-19, those admitted for lingering COVID-19 complications, and those transferred from other health units.

Including those categories, 164 COVID-19 patients were in hospital as of its most recent data. That number is stable.

Testing strategies changed under the Omicron variant, meaning many COVID-19 cases aren't reflected in current counts. Public health officials now only track and report outbreaks in health-care settings.

Ottawa's test positivity rate sits around 20 per cent. That's very high and rising. It was about 15 per cent a month ago.

There are currently 75 active COVID outbreaks in Ottawa. This number is up from Tuesday's update, but still has more than quadrupled since the start of July.

OPH reported 402 more cases and four more deaths over the last four days.

Ottawa has had a total of 844 residents with COVID-19 die. Its 234 victims in 2022 have surpassed the 229 in 2021. It had 381 COVID deaths in 2020.

As of the most recent weekly update, 93 per cent of Ottawa residents age five and up had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 89 per cent had at least two.

Sixty-four per cent of Ottawans age 12 and over had at least three doses, and 16 per cent had four.

OPH reported an increase to about 20,000 vaccine doses being given to Ottawa residents in the last week. Nearly all were fourth doses.

In Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties, wastewater levels are rising in Brockville and Kemptville and stable in Smiths Falls. Those levels are stable across the Kingston area and dropping from peaks in Casselman and Hawkesbury.

Data from other areas is either at least a week old or not publicly available.

Western Quebec is reporting a rise to 80 COVID hospitalizations. One of those patients is in intensive care.

Eastern Ontario communities outside Ottawa are reporting 53 COVID hospitalizations, including five patients in intensive care.

That regional total doesn't include Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health, which has a different counting method. Its nine hospitalizations are stable after a jump last week and it no longer lists any ICU patients.

It's also reporting its 64th COVID death — 45 of them in 2022. The Eastern Ontario Health Unit reported its 237th total death.

Of the seven local health authorities, three have had more deaths this year than in either 2020 or 2021 — HPE, the Kingston area and Renfrew County. All six in eastern Ontario have more in 2022 than 2021.

Across eastern Ontario, between 81 and 92 per cent of residents age five and up have received at least two vaccine doses, and between 59 and 71 per cent of adults have had at least three.

The total number of vaccine doses given to local residents has passed 5.6 million.

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