KITCHENER -- Region of Waterloo Public Health reported 45 more cases of COVID-19 on Friday, marking the fifth day in a row with 40 or more cases.
The latest update came after officials announced that the region had met the requirements to be moved to the province's orange "restrict" category. Chair Karen Redman said she expected that to happen on Monday, pending provincial approval.
The key indicators include the seven-day rolling positivity rate, which reached 3.6 on Friday, and the disease's effective reproduction rate, which hit 1.5 Both of those markers would put the region well into the orange category.
Friday's update brings the region's total number of cases to 2,577, including 2,170 resolved cases and 121 deaths. There are 286 active cases in the region now, the online COVID-19 dashboard shows.
The region also reported that another 6,858 tests had been done since testing numbers were last updated on Tuesday, for an average of about 2,286 tests per day. The latest testing numbers bring the total to 187,733 tests done since the pandemic began.
Public health officials also reported another two outbreaks in the region on Friday. A sports and fitness centre had an outbreak declared after nine cases were connected to it, while three cases are also labelled as "construction" on the dashboard.
One active outbreak also ended, leaving 19 active ones in the region.
Public health officials named the site of a restaurant outbreak earlier this week. They said they named Algarve Restaurant in Kitchener because of the inability to contact trace quickly since more than 175 people might have been exposed to the virus.
Michael Kopacz, a regular customer, tested positive for COVID-19 this week.
"I have very mild discomfort in my chest," he said.
More restrictions will come into effect on Monday when the region moves into the orange tier. Local authorities said they won't hesitate to bring in further restrictions.
"We will consider adding more measures if the restrictions are not enough," Dr. Emilie said.
The new tier means more restrictions for restaurants, gyms and other businesses. Kopacz, who is now self-isolating, agrees with the move.
"We have to get this under control," he said. "People have to be made aware that this is a serious matter and it should be of utmost importance."
He said he wants to support local restaurants like Algarve and said they were following pandemic protocols.
He plans to go back once he is considered recovered from the disease.
Across the province there were more than 1,000 new cases for the eighth straight day. Friday's total of 1,396 actually marked a drop compared to the record-setting 1,575 reported the day.
There have now been a total of 91,180 cases in Ontario, including 76,238 recoveries and 3,312 deaths.
