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Thirty-one medical workers in Montreal have tested positive for COVID-19 and the metropolis is grappling with two outbreaks of the coronavirus, the city’s chief public health officer announced Wednesday.

Montreal reported 603 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, up from 439 on Tuesday. Of that number, an elderly Montrealer has died, Dr. Mylène Drouin confirmed at a late-afternoon news conference. This brings the total number of coronavirus fatalities in the province to seven.

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Drouin observed that more than 42 per cent of cases are concentrated in the city’s west end, mainly in Côte-St-Luc and Côte-des-Neiges. Downtown Montreal is next on the list with about 20 per cent of all cases.

“Nearly half of cases are travellers (or) contacts of travellers who had symptoms,” Drouin said.

“But we know that we have community transmission for some cases,” Drouin added. “We have seen second- and third-generation transmission and for many cases we are not able to find a source.”