KITCHENER -- The Region of Waterloo is reporting 50 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.
There have been 9,657 cases of COVID-19 reported in the region to date. The number of active cases remains the same at 463, and 8,986 cases are considered resolved.
There were no new deaths reported in the region on Friday, keeping that total at 207.
There are currently 27 people in hospital receiving treatment for COVID-19. That includes nine people in the ICU, a number that dropped by four since Thursday.
There are three more active outbreaks in the region for a total of 34.
There have been 336,494 tests performed by the region's testing partners to date.
Speaking at the region's COVID-19 update on Friday, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang said numbers are trending downwards.
"With respect to overall trends over the last few weeks, we have seen the number of new cases slow and move in the right direction," she said. "This is a strong indicator that the current provincial regulations and public health measures are working to slow the spread of COVID-19."
She also said there have been three new cases of variants of concern in the region.
The region's weekly incidence rate sits at 65 per 100,000 per week, Dr. Wang said.
The region's positivity rate rose slightly Friday to 3.5 per cent. The reproductive rate remains unchanged at 0.8. Dr. Wang said a reproductive rate below 1.0 indicates transmission of the disease is slowing.
Deputy Police Chief Shirley Hilton, who is leading the region's COVID-19 vaccination task force, said more than 3,000 people in the region have received both doses of their COVID-19 vaccine. There have been more than 17,000 doses administered so far.
