Waterloo Public Health reported four new COVID-19-related deaths in the region Thursday, raising the death toll in the area to 147.
“I wish to express my deep sympathy for the families and loved ones of these individuals,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, the region’s medical officer of health, said in statement.
“The individuals were a female in her 80s, a male in his 70s, a female in her 80s and a female in her 90s. They were each hospitalized at the time and had underlying conditions.”
The is the first time the agency has reported as many deaths since May 7.
Twenty-two more people have suffered deaths related to COVID-19 in the area in December, which is a total the area has not seen since May when 42 people died after contracting the virus.
Waterloo Public Health also announced that 40 people were in hospitals as a result of the virus, including 12 people who are intensive care.
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“We continue to see an elevated number of hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and a growing number of outbreaks in long-term care and retirement facilities,” Wang explained.
“Outbreaks, hospitalizations and, sadly, deaths are lagging indicators which means we start to see increases in these areas a few weeks after we have an increase in our case counts.”
Another 90 people have tested positive for the coronavirus from Waterloo Region, raising the total number of cases in the area to 5,193.
At the same time, 88 others were cleared of the virus, lifting the total number of resolved cases to 4,443.
Waterloo Public Health says there are currently 598 active cases in the area.
A portion of that number is stemming from the two largest active outbreaks at long-term-care homes in the area which are still growing.
So far, there have been 106 cases (56 residents and 50 staff members) and two deaths connected to the outbreak at Cambridge Country Manor while there have been 43 cases (23 and 20) and one death connected to the outbreak at Village of Winston Park.
A new outbreak was also reported in a congregate setting while others ended at Monsignor Doyle Secondary School in Cambridge and a food processing plant.
This leaves Waterloo Region with 29 active outbreaks.
Elsewhere, Ontario reported 2,202 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the provincial total to 160,255.
The death toll in the province has risen to 4,188 as 21 more deaths were reported.
— With files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues
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