Waterloo Region adds 29 COVID-19 cases as test positivity rate dips

Waterloo -

Waterloo Region reported 29 more COVID-19 cases on Friday as the area's positivity rate continues to decline.

The latest infections bring the region's total to 19,534, including 19,063 resolved cases, 297 deaths and 170 active cases.

Of the new cases reported Friday, 25 are linked to the past day and four are from previous reporting periods.

Five of the latest cases are among children nine or younger.

Since Tuesday, health officials in the region have processed 1,460 COVID-19 tests, bringing the number of tests completed since the pandemic began to 587,056.

Waterloo Region's seven-day rolling positivity rate sits at 2.2 per cent. Earlier this week, that number was 2.5 per cent.

The reproductive rate of the virus on Friday dropped to 0.9, dipping below 1.0 for the first time in weeks.

Hospitalizations increased by two in the past day, up to 10. There are currently six people receiving treatment in area intensive care units.

One new COVID-19 outbreak was declared in the last 24 hours. There are now 12 active outbreaks across the region.

Another 19 infections were confirmed as the Delta variant in Friday's report. Waterloo Region has now confirmed 6,281 variant of concern cases since the pandemic began.

The region's variant breakdown is as follows:

• 3,127 are the Alpha variant
• 21 are the Beta variant
• 98 are the Gamma variant
• 2,772 are the Delta variant
• 263 cases have had a mutation detected, but have not yet had a variant strain confirmed

Meanwhile, health partners in Waterloo Region have now administered 854,061 COVID-19 vaccine doses, with 1,575 jabs put into arms on Thursday.

More than 82.8 per cent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated and 88.5 per cent have received at least one dose.

Across Waterloo Region's entire population, 71.31 per cent are fully vaccinated and 76.21 per cent have received at least one dose.

Province-wide, health officials reported 727 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, which comes after four days of daily case counts below 700.

Of the new infections, 557 involved people who are either unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. The remaining 170 cases involved fully vaccinated individuals.

Ontario has now confirmed 9,688 COVID-19 deaths and 582,635 cases since the pandemic began.

With files from CTV Toronto.