KITCHENER -- There are 51 new cases of COVID-19 in Waterloo Region, as the number of active cases has dropped for the first time in over a week.

The Sunday afternoon Public Health dashboard update shows 37 variants of concern being identified. The number of B.1.1.7 variants, a strain first identified in the U.K, remains the same.

There are 58 more cases considered resolved and no new related deaths.

Active cases have gone down by eight, which is the first time this total has decreased since Apr. 3.

The number of hospitalizations and patients being treated in the ICU for the virus have not changed. This comes as regional hospitals get ready to take on transfer patients from outside the area.

Active facility outbreak totals in the region have also stayed the same.

This brings the Waterloo Region COVID-19 totals to 12,606 confirmed cases, 751 variants of concern, 39 B.1.1.7 variants, 11,870 resolved, 244 deaths, 475 active cases, 18 hospitalizations, four in the ICU, and 15 active outbreaks.

In Ontario, health officials confirmed 4,456 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, surpassing the previous record high case total on Friday of 4,227 new infections.

There are also 21 more people who have died in Ontario due to COVID-19. In total, the province has seen 7,552 deaths related to the novel coronavirus.

The province deemed 2,617 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Sunday, bringing Ontario’s total number of recovered patients up to 346,239.