LONDON, ONT. -- Lambton County is moving from the orange-restrict zone to red-control, even as a COVID-19 outbreak has been declared in the General Medicine/Acute Medicine unit at Bluewater Health in Sarnia, Ont.
The province made the announcement regarding the tighter restrictions on Friday, saying it was the result of "worsening public health trends in the region over the past week."
The changes will take effect on Monday, and mean that capacity limits for gatherings as well as in restaurants and other facilities are significantly reduced.
Under orange, restaurants could seat 50 people as long as physical distancing was maintained, while under red only 10 patrons are allowed. Full details of the changes are available here.
The news comes as an outbreak was declared by Bluewater Health in consultation with Lambton Public Health after six staff members at the hospital tested positive for the virus.
Julia Oosterman with Bluewater Health tells CTV News that no patients have tested positive at this time. The six staff members are all isolating at home.
All patients within the unit have been tested and of the results back there have been zero positive cases so far.
It is believed that the initial infections to staff happened within the community and not the hospital.
The unit remains open for admissions but with enhanced precautions, cleaning, and infection control.
The province defines an outbreak in hospital as two or more linked positive cases of COVID-19 within a 14-day period.
