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Toronto elementary school closed after 13 COVID cases detected

Precious Blood Catholic School is seen in this Google Maps screengrab. (Google Maps) Precious Blood Catholic School is seen in this Google Maps screengrab. (Google Maps)
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Toronto -

A Scarborough elementary school will be closed from in-person learning and activities starting Monday after more than a dozen COVID-19 cases were identified.

The Toronto Catholic District School Board announced Sunday evening the temporary dismissal of all students at Precious Blood Catholic School from attending classes in person following the recommendation from Toronto Public Health (TPH).

An ongoing COVID-19 investigation in the school located in the Pharmacy Avenue and Lawrence Avenue East area has found 13 coronavirus cases linked to the building, TPH said.

“We received additional lab results this afternoon & are recommending a whole school dismissal as a precautionary measure to protect staff, students and the community from further COVID-19 transmission within the school,” Toronto’s health unit tweeted.

“We will work closely with our school partners to determine when in-person learning will resume.”

According to COVID-19 data from the TCDSB, there are 11 cases among students and two among staff as of Sunday afternoon.

TPH’s dashboard last updated Friday shows there are 13 active school outbreaks in the city.

On Friday, Ontario’s school boards reported the lowest single-day number of new school-related cases since September. The total number of active cases associated with the public school system stood at 913 on Friday, down from 1,004 a week ago and 1,090 two weeks ago.

While case counts in schools have steadily declined since early October, it is not clear whether the trend will continue with the recent increase of new infections in the community.

On Sunday, the province reported its highest daily COVID-19 case count in nearly a month, logging 636 new cases.

The seven-day rolling average of new cases continues to climb in the province, hitting 468 Sunday, up from 349 a week ago.

- With files from Codi Wilson and Chris Fox

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