MONTREAL -- Correctional Service Canada (CSC) reported that 30 inmates have recently tested positive for COVID-19 at the minimum security unit of the Archambault Institution in Quebec.
CSC said in a news release that health-care staff is monitoring the situation and measures have been put in place to limit the virus spread.
"Contact tracing is underway and testing for COVID-19 is being offered to all inmates and all staff at the minimum-security unit of the institution," the release reads.
The COVID-19 data on CSC's site says that as of Feb. 16 there have been 280 positive COVID-19 cases and one inmate has died (at the Federal Training Centre) due to the disease across eight institutions.
CSC reports that 249 inmates who tested positive have recovered from COVID-19.
The 30 cases at Archambault are the only active cases in the province's correctional institutions, the CSC says.
"This is an evolving situation and we continue to apply infection prevention and control measures to prevent and contain the spread of COVID-19, and adapt based on public health advice," the CSC said in a release. "All staff and inmates are equipped with medical masks, and we have increased cleaning and disinfecting throughout the site."
Archambault includes a medium and minimum-security unit and is located in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec, about 45 minutes north of Montreal.
The minimum security unit has a capacity of 215 offenders, and CSC says there are no confirmed cases in the medium-security unit and no staff members at the minimum-security unit have tested positive.
Family visits are temporarily suspended at Archambault.
