Waterloo Region adds 29 COVID-19 cases as test positivity rate dips
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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.