18 COVID-19 cases added in Waterloo region on Wednesday as hospitalizations decline

WATERLOO – Waterloo region health officials reported 18 new cases of COVID-19 in Wednesday’s update as hospitalizations decline.

Of the 18 new cases, 16 are linked to the last 24 hours, while two are from previous reporting periods.

The latest confirmed infections bring the total number of Waterloo region cases to 18,320, including 17,916 resolved cases, 114 active infections and 282 deaths.

Hospitalizations fell by four in the past day, from 17 to 13. Of those, 11 people are receiving treatment in intensive care units in the region.

One more outbreak has been declared in the region, with a total of eight COVID-19 outbreaks now considered active.

In Wednesday’s report, 93 other infections were confirmed as case variants of concern, with 89 identified as Delta variants. The region of Waterloo has confirmed 4,672 variants of infections of concern since the start of the pandemic.

The distribution of the Waterloo Region variants is as follows:

• 3,122 are the Alpha variant, first identified in the UK and originally known as B.1.1.7

• 21 are the beta variant, originally detected in South Africa and previously referred to as B.1.315

• 96 are the Gamma variant, initially discovered in Brazil and labeled P.1

• 1,172 are the Delta variant, first found in India and previously referred to as B.1.617

• 261 cases had a mutation detected, but have not yet confirmed a variant strain

Meanwhile, health partners in the region implemented 4,567 more vaccine injections on Tuesday. In Waterloo region, 749,124 doses of vaccine were administered.

Over 82.5% of residents aged 12 and over have now received at least one dose, while 67.52% of the eligible population are fully immunized.

As of Wednesday, 158 cases of COVID-19 and four deaths were confirmed in Ontario.

The seven-day moving average of daily COVID-19 cases now stands at around 160, up from 155 the previous week.

There have been 549,734 laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 identified in the province since the start of the pandemic.

With files from CTV Toronto.