Ottawa's top doctor has told city residents that if they have or may have COVID-19 and don't properly self-isolate they could face expensive fines, CTV reports.
Ottawa's Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Vera Etches, announced on Tuesday that she is invoking an order that requires people to self isolate if they test positive, have close contact with someone who has tested positive, have signs of symptoms or have reasonable grounds to believe they may have the virus.
People under this order must remain self-isolated for two weeks time unless doctors rule out the virus earlier.
A fine of up to $5,000 per day could be invoked for every day or part of a day that a symptomatic person fails to follow the quarantine rules occurs or continues to defy those orders.
"I don't take these types of decisions and steps lightly," Etches told reporters on Tuesday.
In her defense of the order Etches said, "I must do everything possible to reduce the transmission that’s currently happening in Ottawa... we must again plank the curve."
