Third COVID-19 case in Eastern Ontario

(Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston, File)

EASTERN ONTARIO – A third case of novel coronavirus in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit area has been identified as a health care worker from Prescott-Russell, working in Ottawa.

The man in his 30s was among the 47 new cases of COVID-19 announced in the Sunday morning update from the Ontario Ministry of Health.

Around 1:15 p.m., the Eastern Ontario Health Unit indicated that the man is from Prescott-Russell and did not have a history of travel. He’s a health care worker at the Ottawa Hospital and received a COVID-19 test at the Ottawa assessment center.

The man, as well as his close family contacts, are in self-isolation.

“Ottawa Public Health and The Ottawa Hospital have been actively engaged in the investigation and contact tracing of individuals or patients who have been in close contact with the healthcare worker at the hospital,” the EOHU said. The health unit is also looking at any contacts locally.

A woman in her 20s in Ottawa was also included in the morning update – she’s also self-isolating.

The total number of positive cases in Ontario is now 424. Eight cases have been resolved. Three people have died.

There have been 26,419 tests performed and 17,634 of those were negative. Results are pending for another 8,361.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit’s first two positive cases were people in Prescott-Russell.

Due to the growing number of cases, the health unit said this would be the last news release it would be sending out regarding each individual positive case in the region. Instead, it will update a case count on its website daily.

Note: For simplicity in describing the area/region because we don’t have an exact location for the latest case, our use of the term “Eastern Ontario” excludes cases in the City of Ottawa.