Published Friday, December 18, 2020 3:05PM EST
Last Updated Friday, December 18, 2020 3:08PM EST
The Ministry of the Solicitor General confirmed Friday that there are now 54 inmates at the Toronto South Detention Centre who have been diagnosed with the disease, up from the 25 cases reported last Thursday.
“Those inmates are under droplet precautions and isolated from the rest of the inmate population while they receive appropriate medical care,” a spokesperson for the ministry said in a statement.
“The ministry is working with Toronto Public Health to support contact tracing. Voluntary testing of staff, as well as inmates within the same units, are underway.”
The ministry did not provide the number of cases among jail staff.
Meanwhile, there are five cases at the Toronto East Detention Centre. Two other provincial correctional facilities have COVID-19 cases, including Central North Correctional Centre with three and Maplehurst Correctional Complex with one.
The ministry said it made operational changes across all provincial correctional facilities in the past few months.
These include testing all newly admitted inmates with their consent and housing them in a separate area from the general population for 14 days, and providing masks to inmates and personal protective equipment to staff.
Staff and visitors are always required to wear masks and get their temperature taken. The ministry said there is also increased cleaning at facilities.
On Thursday, Correctional Service of Canada revealed an outbreak at a prison in Kingston has resulted in more than 80 inmates testing positive for COVID-19.