SUDBURY -- Porcupine Health Unit says the four new COVID-19 cases announced Wednesday morning are connected with the Timmins hospital outbreak.

The outbreak at Timmins and District Hospital was declared on Sunday after a patient tested positive for the virus. The patient was moved to isolation.

Of the four new positive cases, two are hospital employees and the other two are patients.

This brings the current number of confirmed positive cases in the PHU service area, which includes Timmins, Cochrane, Matheson, Smooth Rock Falls, and Iroquois Falls, to 54.

All of Wednesday morning's new cases are female residents of the Timmins area.

The two staff members who confirmed positive are reportedly in self-isolation, one is in her 30s and the other is in her 50s.

The other two cases, one in her 70s and the other in her 90s, remain in hospital.

They were identified in the process of the investigation of the outbreak at Timmins and District Hospital.

More details to come on this developing story...