The weekly COVID-19 dashboard from the Region of Waterloo shows the number of hospitalizations in the region has nearly doubled in the last week.

On Sept. 28, the region was reporting 24 individuals in hospital relating to COVID-19.

That number increased to 52, according to the Oct. 7 dashboard update.

COVID DASHboard

The number of people in ICU remained at one.

The region is also reporting three new deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the Region of Waterloo since the beginning of the pandemic to 479.

The number of active cases fell by 55 to 267.

The number of outbreaks in high-risk settings fell by one to 15.

Of the 15 outbreaks, 12 outbreaks are in long-term care or retirement homes, one outbreak is in a hospital and two are in congregate settings – a category that includes shelters, group homes and correctional facilities.

The region is reporting 241 new cases, brining the total number of cases throughout the pandemic to 51,790.

Due to the testing limitations, the number of new cases is not an accurate representation of the total number of cases that may be in the region.