Waterloo Region logs most new COVID-19 cases in Ontario for third time in five days

KITCHENER -

With 53 new COVID-19 cases being reported on Sunday by local health officials, Waterloo Region has now logged the most daily cases in Ontario for the third time in the past five days.

The province, which records COVID-19 cases at a different rate of time than local health officials, reported that Waterloo Region had over 50 cases, while Peel Region had 49 and Toronto had 45.

Wednesday and Friday were the other days the region had the most cases in all of Ontario.

Region of Waterloo's online dashboard update for Sunday also shows 57 more cases now considered resolved, as the active case count has dropped by 11.

On Sunday morning, the region announced the first COVID-19 related death of a resident who was fully immunized. Officials say she was in her 90s and living in at the Village of Winston Park long-term care home in Kitchener, which is currently dealing with an outbreak.

Another outbreak was also declared in the past 24 hours at an unnamed home childcare centre.

The number of people hospitalized with the virus and being treated in area ICUs have not changed since the last update.

There have been 35 more cases identified as variants of concern, with 31 classified as the Delta variant (B.1.617, first detected in India). Health official confirmed on Friday that the Delta was the dominant strain of the virus in Waterloo Region.

There have also been two more cases identified as the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7, first detected in the U.K.) and one more as the Gamma variant (P.1, first detected in Brazil).

This brings Waterloo Region COVID-19 totals to 17,028 confirmed cases, 16,227 resolved, 260 deaths, 516 active cases, 10 active outbreaks, 54 hospitalized, 20 in ICU, 3,562 variants of concern, 3,068 Alphas, 11 Betas (B.1.351, first detected in South Africa), 60 Gammas, and 114 Deltas.

On Sunday, there were 318 COVID-19 cases logged across all of Ontario, marking the sixth consecutive day of less than 400.

The province’s case total now sits at 542,198, including 529,506 recoveries and 9,019 deaths, 12 of which were reported in the previous day.