KITCHENER -- As Waterloo Region continues to deal with the Delta variant, public health is reporting no new variants of concern in the daily COVID-19 case count.
Of the 49 new cases confirmed Saturday on the region’s online dashboard, none have been classified as the Alpha (B.1.1.7, first detected in the U.K.), Beta (B.1.351, first detected in South Africa), Gamma (P.1, first detected in Brazil), or Delta (B.1.617, first detected in India) variants.
On Friday, the region reported that there were 34 cases identified as variants of concern from the past two day period, with 21 of these being the Delta.
Waterloo Region has been labeled a Delta variant hot spot, which was the main reason for why the area did not moved into Step Two of Ontario’s reopening plan.
Another COVID-19-related death has been reported in the area over the past 24 hours.
There are 66 more cases considered resolved, while the active case count has dropped by 18.
The number of hospitalizations has gone down by five and there are four less people being treated in the ICU for the virus.
The total number of active facility outbreaks in the area has decreased by one.
This brings the Waterloo Region COVID-19 numbers to 17,716 confirmed cases, 17,058 resolved, 271 deaths, 3,925 variants of concern, 3,025 Alphas, 11 Betas, 61 Gammas, 443 Deltas, 50 hospitalized, 20 in the ICU, and 21 active outbreaks.
In Ontario, health officials reported 209 new infections Saturday, a number far lower than the 349 cases logged last Saturday.
The province is also reporting nine additional COVID-19-related fatalities in the previous 24-hour period, and 262 cases now considered resolved.
Ontario health officials, who measure COVID-19 cases across a different time period than regional officials, say there are 47 new cases in Waterloo Region, 22 in Halton Region, 20 in Toronto, 20 in Grey Bruce, and 20 in Niagara.
With files from CTV News Toronto
