A Catholic French elementary school in Oshawa is closing today following an outbreak of COVID-19.

In a news release issued Monday, the MonAvenir Catholic School Board confirmed that a high number of recent COVID-19 cases identified at the school has prompted the closure of ÉÉC Corpus-Christi, located on Hillside Avenue in Oshawa.

The decision, the school board said, was made in consultation with Durham Public Health and students will begin remote learning starting Tuesday.

On Sunday, an elementary school in Toronto’s Wychwood neighbourhood also confirmed that it would close today due to an ongoing outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Students at McMurrich Junior Public School have been dismissed to allow Toronto Public Health to investigate the outbreak at the school, located near St. Clair Avenue West and Oakwood Avenue.

There are at least 17 schools across Ontario’s publicly funded school boards that are now closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks or operational issues, according to the most recent data released by the province on Friday.

There are at least 712 publicly funded schools in the province with one or more active cases of COVID-19 and there are now a total of 1,541 active infections linked to schools in the province.

The rise in school-related cases comes as Ontario’s daily case count hit a six-month high on Sunday, with 964 new infections reported yesterday. That is the highest single-day total logged since May 30 when 1,033 cases were confirmed.

Two cases of the B.1.1.529 variant, known as Omicron, have also now been detected