WATERLOO —
Health officials in Waterloo Region added 26 new COVID-19 cases in Friday’s update.
Of the latest cases, 24 are linked to the past day while two are from previous reporting periods.
Waterloo Region has now logged 18,487 lab-confirmed COVID-19 infections since the pandemic began, including 18,049 resolved cases, 283 deaths and 142 active cases.
Since Tuesday, health officials processed 1,022 COVID-19 tests, bringing the total number of completed tests to 545,602. On Friday, the region’s positivity rate sat at 2.5 per cent, with the reproductive rate of the virus at 1.0.
Hospitalizations dropped by one in Friday’s report, down to 14. Of those, 11 people are receiving treatment in area intensive care units.
There are 10 active COVID-19 outbreaks declared in Waterloo Region.
In Friday’s report, another three infections were confirmed as variant of concern cases. Health officials have now logged 4,779 variant of concern cases in the region.
Waterloo Region’s variant breakdown is as follows:
- 3,121 are the Alpha variant, first identified in the United Kingdom and originally known as B.1.1.7
- 21 are the Beta variant, originally detected in South Africa and previously referred to as B.1.315
- 98 are the Gamma variant, initially discovered in Brazil and labelled as P.1
- 1,282 are the Delta variant, first found in India and previously called B.1.617
- 257 cases have had a mutation detected, but have not yet had a variant strain confirmed
Another 2,050 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in Waterloo Region, bringing the total number of jabs in arms to 778,484.
More than 72.4 per cent of the eligible population is now fully vaccinated and 83.46 per cent of residents 12 and older have received at least one dose.
Meanwhile, across Ontario, daily COVID-19 case numbers spiked above 300 for the first time since late June.
Provincial officials are reporting 340 new cases in Friday’s update.
The rolling seven-day average now sits at 214, up from 170 at this time last week.
Ontario has now logged 551,678 COVID-19 cases and 9,392 deaths since the pandemic began.
With files from CTV Toronto.
