Region of Waterloo reports 28 new COVID-19 cases, 85 more identified as Delta variant

A nurse holds a vial containing a patients test swab during a demonstrates of the drive-thru Covid-19 testing centre at the National Arts Centre Wednesday November 18, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

KITCHENER -

Waterloo Region health officials are reporting 28 new cases in the area on Saturday.

The online dashboard update also shows 29 more cases that are now considered resolved and the active case count dropping by four.

There have been no virus-related deaths reported in the last 24 hours in the area.

Hospitalization numbers continue to drop in the region, with the total number decreasing by nine and the number of those in the ICU going down by three.

Three more cases have been identified as the Alpha variant, while 85 have been identified as the Delta variant.

The active facility outbreak total has gone down by one.

This brings the Waterloo Region COVID-19 totals to 17,978 confirmed cases, 17,387 resolved, 277 deaths, 303 active cases, 21 hospitalized, 17 in the ICU, 20 active outbreaks, 4,190 variants of concern, 3,107 Alphas, 694 Deltas, 13 Betas, and 62 Gammas.

In Ontario, health officials confirmed 179 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, which comes after officials reported daily infection numbers of 183 on Friday, 210 on Thursday and 194 on Wednesday.

As the province recorded eight new deaths related to the disease, the total death tally in the province rose to 9,245.

The province also deemed 218 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Saturday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 536,028.