4 new COVID-19 deaths reported in Waterloo Region as death toll reaches 328

On Wednesday, Waterloo Public Health reported four new deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the region’s death toll to 328.

“Today we are reporting four deaths in our community related to COVID-19: a male in his 80s, a male in his 50s, a female in her 90s and a female in her 80s,” said Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, physician. said the health officer.

“I want to express my deepest sympathy to the families of these people.”

There have now been 15 deaths announced in Waterloo Region since January 1, including six in the past three days.

There are also 131 people in hospitals in the region who are suffering from COVID-19, including 21 who need intensive care. On Tuesday, those numbers were 136 and 17.

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On Wednesday, Waterloo Public Health reported another 359 positive tests for coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the region to 35,790. This brings the rolling seven-day average number of new daily cases down to 447.3 from 468.9 .

The agency warns that due to the availability of testing, the number of cases on its dashboard is likely lower than the actual number of cases in Waterloo Region.

Another 243 people have been cleared of the virus, bringing the total number of resolved cases to 26,285. The region now has 3,843 active cases of COVID-19, up from 4,093 reported on Monday.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the region said it had changed the way it handles cases due to the recent outbreak, leading to a change in how it counts resolved cases.

There are currently 76 active outbreaks of COVID-19 in the region, which is unchanged from Tuesday, 39 of them being linked to long-term care homes or retirement homes, 28 are in collective establishments, the other nine being linked to hospitals.

On the other hand, Waterloo Public Health reports that there have now been 2,941 COVID-19 vaccinations in the region, up 2,941 from Tuesday.

The agency also says 243,081 area residents have now received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, 2,579 more than it reported 24 hours earlier.

The number of fully vaccinated residents increased by 338 to 468,195, meaning that 77.36% of all area residents are now considered fully vaccinated.

Elsewhere, Ontario reported 4,132 people hospitalized with covid Wednesday, although just over half were initially admitted with viral complications, including 589 in intensive care units.

The province recently began distinguishing between those who were admitted to hospital directly because of COVID and those who were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, Ontario also reported 5,744 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, although this is an underestimate of the true widespread transmission of the virus due to recent testing restrictions. The provincial total of cases now stands at 969,437.

The death toll in the province rose to 10,726 as 60 more virus-related deaths were added. One of the deaths occurred more than a month ago, officials noted.

— with files by Gabby Rodrigues