A total of 99 people are in hospital currently positive and receiving treatment for COVID-19 in Waterloo Region hospitals, Wednesday’s dashboard update shows.

Hospitalizations dropped by eight from Tuesday, when there were a record 107 hospitalizations reported. There are 14 people in area ICUs. Hospital officials have said, the numbers only reflect patients who are still COVID-19 positive and there are still a number of those who are no longer infectious needing hospital care.

Health officials reported 510 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the region’s total to 32,659 to date. That includes 25,289 recoveries and 320 deaths. There are at least 6,797 active cases in the region.

There are 62 active outbreaks listed in the region, including 24 in congregate settings, 32 in long-term care or retirement homes and six in hospitals.

The region’s variant of concern breakdown is as follows:

  • 3,127 are the Alpha variant
  • 21 are the Beta variant
  • 98 are the Gamma variant
  • 4,098 are the Delta variant
  • 264 are the Omicron variant

A total of 1,159,046 vaccine doses have been administered in Waterloo Region to date, including 221,197 third doses. Of the eligible population aged five and older, 86.92 per cent have one dose and 81.08 per cent have two doses.

As for the entire population, 82.27 per cent have one dose and 76.79 per cent have two doses.

Across the province, there are 3,448 people in hospital who have tested positive for COVID-19, along with 505 in Ontario’s ICUs.

The province also reported Wednesday that 54 per cent of the hospitalizations are people who are in hospital primarily due to COVID-19, while the remaining 46 per cent were admitted for other reasons but are now testing positive for the virus.

In intensive care, 83 per cent of patients are admitted primarily for COVID-19, while the remaining 17 per cent have tested positive but are being treated for another issue.

Another 46 deaths were reported in Ontario on Wednesday.

There were another 9,782 cases reported in the province, although health officials say case numbers are an underestimate.

With files from CTV Toronto