Another 389 COVID-19 cases confirmed in Waterloo Region; over 2,200 active cases

A security guard gestures as people arrive at the City of Toronto operated mass COVID-19 vaccination site in East York Town Centre, servicing the Thorncliffe Park community, an area disproportionally impacted by COVID-19, Wednesday, March 24, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

KITCHENER -

Region of Waterloo Public Health has confirmed 389 new COVID-19 cases for Tuesday, as the active case count now sits at 2,222.

This marks one straight week of daily cases being over 200, which included a record high 415 cases reported during the 24-hour period of Christmas Eve.

Along with active cases increasing by 295 and passing the total threshold of 2,000 for the first time since the pandemic began, 85 more cases are now considered resolved. This total sits at 21,774, while the total case count is 24,349.

Another person has died from the virus in Waterloo Region, bringing this total to 313. Health officials said the latest death was a man in his 50s.

Public health has identified 12 more cases as variants of concern, with two being Omicron variants, nine Delta, and one Alpha. There have now been 7,345 variants of concern identified, 63 Omicron variants, 4,036 Deltas, and 3,127 Alphas.

One more person has been hospitalized with the virus. There are 23 currently in area hospitals with COVID-19 and nine being treated in intensive care.

The number of active facility COVID-19 outbreaks in Waterloo Region has shot up by nine to 23. Included in this recent increase are several WRDSB schools.

There have been 1,628 cases in those nine and younger, 2,853 in those 10-19, and 5,791 in those 20-29.

A total of 687,915 COVID-19 tests have been administered in Waterloo Region since the pandemic began.

On the vaccine front, 1,050,913 doses have been given in the area, with 122,320 being third doses. The five and older population now has a one dose vaccination rate of 85.77 per cent and fully vaccinated rate of 80.13 per cent. Meanwhile, 81.21 per cent of the entire population has gotten their first dose, and 75.97 per cent are fully vaccinated.

In Ontario, health officials are reporting 8,825 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, and seven related deaths.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Ontario has seen 715,405 lab-confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, including 10,168 deaths and 634,846 recoveries.