Another 22 COVID-19 cases confirmed in Waterloo Region, second related death in as many days

A COVID-19 vaccine is prepared to be administered at a hospital in Toronto on Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

KITCHENER -

Region of Waterloo Public Health confirmed 22 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday and another virus-related death for the second day in a row.

The last time the death toll jumped was from Oct. 17-18 when officials reported two people dying of the virus in the span of 24 hours.

The online dashboard update for Thursday also shows 24 more cases are now considered resolved and the active case count has gone down by two.

Another eight cases have been identified as the Delta variant.

The number of people being treated in local hospitals and ICUs have both gone down by one.

While the number of outbreaks at facilities in the area have remained the same, public health has declared outbreaks at JHCC Riverside Child Care Centre (two cases connected) and Apostolic Faith Mission (five cases). Meanwhile, outbreaks have been declared over at an unnamed fitness facility (three cases) and Blair Road Public School (two cases).

There are three more cases in those aged nine and younger, three more in those 10-19, and four more in those between the ages of 20 and 29.

This brings the Waterloo Region COVID-19 totals to 20,784 confirmed cases, 20,245 resolved, 307 deaths, 230 active cases, 7,089 variants of concern, 3,581 Delta variants, six hospitalized, four in the ICU, 12 active outbreaks, 1,314 cases in those nine and younger, 2,288 in those aged 10-19, and 4,975 residents in their 20s who tested positive.

Regional health officials administered 1,415 more vaccine doses in the past 24 hours, an increase of 459 compared to the prior 24 hour period.

The per cent of the population 12 and over with one dose now stands at 88.75 per cent, while the per cent fully vaccinated is 86.75 per cent.

For the entire population of Waterloo Region, 77.08 per cent have their first dose and 74.81 per cent are fully vaccinated.

In Ontario, health officials are reporting 748 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday as well as five more deaths related to the disease.

Of the 748 infections logged Thursday, the Ministry of Health says that 356 were identified in individuals who were unvaccinated. An additional 19 were found in people who were partially vaccinated. There were 326 cases in fully vaccinated individuals and 44 in people with an unknown vaccination status.

The total number of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ontario now stands at 614,270, including 9,985 deaths.