Waterloo –
Region of Waterloo Public Health recorded 34 new COVID-19 cases as active infections reach its highest total in more than a week.
There are 173 active cases in the region, 27 more than on Friday.
Officials confirmed 19,701 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, including 19,227 resolved cases and 299 deaths.
Of the 34 cases recorded, four are among children ages nine and younger, three in youth 10 to 19 and nine in those aged 20 to 29.
Four people are receiving care at an area ICU, three fewer than Friday. Hospitalizations remain the same at nine.
Two outbreaks have been resolved in the past 24 hours, dropping the region’s total to five.
Another nine infections have been identified as the Delta variant in Saturday’s update. One was verified as the Alpha variant.
Waterloo Region has reported 6,401 variant cases. The region’s breakdown is as follows:
• 3,127 are the Alpha variant, originally 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
• 2,894 are the Delta variant, first found in India and previously called B.1.617
• 261 cases of mutations have been detected, but have yet to have a strain confirmed
Ontario reported 704 new cases Saturday, with seven new deaths.
The province’s seven-day average stands at 607, down from 629 at this point last week.
There are 587,521 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, including 572,750 resolved infections and 9,750 deaths.
