MONTREAL -- Dozens of McGill students living in the university's residences have tested positive for COVID-19.

In a letter posted to the university's website, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Fabrice Labeau said 44 students in the residences have reported testing positive for the virus.

Of those, 33 live in the Royal Victoria College residence.

In the letter, Labeau attributed the increase “in large part... to successful contact tracing.”

“As soon as we became aware of initial reports of positive cases in residence, we began actively tracing the contacts of the students in question, directing these contacts to get tested and immediately moving medium or high-risk contacts into self-isolation,” he wrote.

Labeau said that as an additional measure, all residents of Royal Victoria College have been asked to get tested for COVID-19.