(Ottawa) More federal prisons are reporting outbreaks of COVID-19, with the spike in infections affecting both inmates and large numbers of staff.
Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) says it is facing new outbreaks at three institutions: Atlantic Institution in New Brunswick; Drumheller in Alberta; and Stony Mountain in Manitoba.
The agency says a total of 18 inmates and 60 staff have tested positive for COVID-19 at those facilities, with 41 staff infected in Drumheller alone.
Corrections reported on Thursday that a total of 160 prison staff across the country were infected with COVID-19, as well as 88 inmates.
But it was not immediately clear whether that number included outbreaks at Atlantic Institution, Drumheller and Stony Mountain.
Corrections are also grappling with a previously reported outbreak at La Macaza Institution in the Laurentians, where 15 staff members tested positive.
Spokeswoman Marie Pier Lecuyer previously said that the establishment’s staffing levels in Quebec were adequate despite the infections.