Waterloo Region adds nine COVID-19 cases; only one outbreak remains active
Waterloo Region logged nine new COVID-19 cases on Friday as health officials report only one outbreak remains active in the community.
The latest infections bring the region's total since the pandemic began to 19,970, including 19,573 resolved cases, 93 active infections and 302 deaths.
The cumulative case count only increased by eight on Friday due to a data cleanup.
Two COVID-19 outbreaks in the region were declared resolved in Friday's update. There is now only one active outbreak in the entire region.
Hospitalizations remain unchanged from Thursday's report, still sitting at nine. Intensive care unit admissions increased by one in the past day, up to three.
Another 3,597 COVID-19 tests were processed in the region since Tuesday. Since the pandemic began, health partners have completed 615,117 tests.
As of Friday, the region's rolling seven-day positivity rate sits at 1.5 per cent, up from 1.2 per cent on Tuesday.
The reproductive rate of the virus also climbed up to 1.0 on Friday, compared to 0.9 on Tuesday.
Sixteen infections were confirmed as variant of concern cases on Friday, all of which were linked to the Delta variant.
The breakdown of Waterloo Region's 6,650 lab-confirmed variant cases is as follows:
- 3,127 are the Alpha variant
- 21 are the Beta variant
- 98 are the Gamma variant
- 3,142 are the Delta variant
- 262 cases have had a mutation detected, but have not yet had a variant strain confirmed
Since the COVID-19 vaccine rollout began, 888,456 doses have been administered in Waterloo Region, with 691 jabs put into arms on Thursday.
More than 86.7 per cent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated and 90.57 per cent of those 12 and older have received at least one dose.
Among Waterloo Region's entire population, 74.72 per cent are fully vaccinated and 77.99 per cent have received at least one dose.
Meanwhile, Ontario reported 492 new COVID-19 cases on Friday.
The province has now confirmed 596,772 cases and 9,839 deaths since the pandemic began.
With files from CTV Toronto.
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