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Vera Etches, the city’s medical officer of health, said there’s little evidence of a peak in Ottawa since the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase, but there are some similarities with the provincial observations.

Provincial health officials believe the community spread of the virus has peaked.

Etches said Monday that hospitalizations are stable and the number of people being admitted to intensive care is stable. Those numbers suggest the underlying burden of infection in the community is probably also stable, she added.

“I am hopeful that will show a decline reflecting an overall decline in infections in our community in the days to come,” Etches said.

At a late-afternoon briefing by the Ottawa Board of Health during which the easing of some restrictions was discussed, Etches warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over with the overwhelming majority of Ottawa’s population is still at risk.

“It must be clear that the current epidemic here in Ottawa still has lots of room to grow if current measures aren’t continued … We don’t really know how many people in Ottawa are infected,” she said. “There are estimates that somewhere around one per cent of the population have been infected. That leaves 99 per cent of our population not yet immune to COVID-19.

“Any illness could quickly multiply if interventions like physical distancing and masking are not in place.”

With files from Blair Crawford