Waterloo Public Health reported the lowest number of new COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period in more than three weeks on Wednesday.
The agency announced 74 new cases, which lifted the total number of cases in the area to 8,577.
It is the lowest number reported since Dec. 29, when there were 66 new cases announced.
There were no new COVID-19-related deaths announced leaving the death toll at 182. One was declared on Tuesday with 17 having been reported so far this month.
Another 89 people have been cleared of the virus, lifting the total number of resolved cases to 7,452.
This leaves the area with 851 active COVID-19 cases, a number that has been decreasing steadily for six days in a row.
Unfortunately, there was one stat that was not trending in the right direction when Waterloo Public Health updated its dashboard on Wednesday. There are now 57 people in area hospitals as a result of COVID-19, with 16 of those being in intensive care. Those numbers have both increased (+4 and +1) since Tuesday’s update.
Eight active COVID-19 outbreaks were reported over on Wednesday, dropping the total number of active outbreaks to 41.
The list included two at food and beverage locations as well as one each at the Waterloo police station, a congregate setting, a home daycare, Village at University Gates LTC in Waterloo, Doon Village in Kitchener and the Shamrock Independent Living Centre in Kitchener.
The region’s largest current outbreak continues to grow as there have now been 154 cases at the Conestogo Meat Packers plant since it began on Dec. 29.
This plant is now responsible for two of the four largest outbreaks that Waterloo Region has seen since the pandemic began last March.
A total of 91 people tested positive for COVID-19 during an outbreak that lasted from April 23 until May 20.
The largest outbreak in the region was at Forest Heights Long Term Care which saw 51 residents die last year. The outbreak lasted from April 1 until June 30, with 150 residents and 73 staff members testing positive for the coronavirus over that span.
The third-largest outbreak the area has experienced was also at a long-term-care home in Kitchener over the same timeframe.
It was at Trinity Village from April 14 until May 30 as 19 residents suffered COVID-19-related deaths another 30 residents and 47 staff members tested positive for the virus.
Global News reached out to Conestogo Meat Packers to discuss the current outbreak but has not received a response.
Waterloo Public Health says a third of the cases have been resolved to this point.
“We expected to see a significant increase in cases after systematic testing of more than 600 employees over the last week,” Dr. Ryan Van Meer, Associate Medical Officer of Health, said in a statement.
“Of the 154 cases reported to date, 100 cases are now resolved.”
Waterloo Public Health believes that 49 of the cases have been acquired through community transmission while “105 of the cases reported to date have an acquisition source that is unknown or are being currently assessed.”
Elsewhere, Ontario reported 2,655 new cases of the novel coronavirus Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 244,932.
“Locally, there are 925 new cases in Toronto, 473 in Peel, 226 in York Region, 179 in Windsor-Essex County and 129 in Niagara,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said.
Eighty-nine more deaths were also reported Wednesday, bringing the provincial death toll to 5,568.
–With files from Global News’ Ryan Rocca
Comments