SUDBURY -- The COVID-19 outbreak at a North Bay apartment building has grown by two cases.

According to the North Bay-Parry Sound District Health Unit, a total of 26 people have now tested positive for COVID-19 in connection to the outbreak at the Skyline-Lancelot apartment building.

Twenty of the cases are residents in the building, with six visitors also testing positive after the outbreak was first declared on Feb. 8. Nineteen of the cases are said to be one of the COVID-19 variants of concern, which are said to be more transmissible than the traditional strain.

Further testing on the variants of concern is currently underway to confirm its origin.

Following the outbreak at the apartment complex, provincial health officials announced today that the North Bay-Parry Sound District Health Unit will remain under the stay at home order, while 27 other health units across the country return to the province's colour-coded framework.