Health officials in the Waterloo region have reported more than 500 new cases of COVID-19 for the first time since the pandemic began.
Another 517 cases were added in Wednesday’s update. Of those cases, 487 were reported in the last 24 hours, while others were added to the totals from previous days.
To date, the Waterloo region has reported 24,866 laboratory-confirmed cases of the disease, including 22,005 recoveries and 313 deaths. Active cases increased by 274 on Wednesday, now at 2,496.
There are 24 people receiving treatment for COVID-19 in area hospitals, including eight in the ICU.
There are 22 active outbreaks in the region.
Here is a breakdown of the variants of interest in the region:
- 3,127 have been identified as the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7)
- 21 have been identified as the Beta variant (B.1.351)
- 98 have been identified as the Gamma variant (P.1)
- 4,036 have been identified as the Delta variant (B.1.617)
- 72 have been identified as the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529)
To date, 1,058,813 doses of vaccine have been administered in the Waterloo region, including 129,753 third doses. Of the population aged five years and over, 85.84% have one dose and 80.18% two doses. Regarding the entire population, 81.27% have one dose and 76.02% both doses.
Ontario reported a record 10,436 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. The seven-day average for new cases in the province is now 9,183, compared to 3,520 last year and 1,514 two weeks ago.
The province’s positivity rate is 26.9 percent.
Of the cases recorded on Wednesday, 8,221 were in fully vaccinated people, while 1,514 were found in unvaccinated people. At least 425 cases were recorded in those who were partially vaccinated and 276 in those who had an unknown vaccination status.
To date, a total of 725,841 laboratory-confirmed cases have been reported in Ontario, including 638,678 recoveries and 10,171 deaths.
With CTV Toronto files
Reference-kitchener.ctvnews.ca