SUDBURY -- The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit recorded 18 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday with 15 from within the Nipissing District and 3 from the Parry Sound district.

The news comes on the same day the Ontario government extended the lockdown in North Bay in an effort to control the Variant of Concern identified at the lancelot apartments.

Case numbers 240 through to 257 were recorded on Feb. 19. Of the 15 reported cases in Nipissing, 1 case was exposed by contact with another known case, and 5 others were as a result of the outbreak at Skyline - Lancelot apartments. The remaining 9 are currently under investigation.

Public health officials in North Bay declared an outbreak at the Lancelot Apartments on Feb.8 and since then 38 people have tested positive for the virus with 1 death and 1 person hospitalized.

The VOC B.1.351 or South African variant was confirmed at the apartments on Feb. 13.

For more information on COVID-19, visit the health unit's website.