More than 4,000 COVID-19 vaccinations done in Waterloo Region on Wednesday

Waterloo Region’s COVID-19 vaccination task force says there have now been 216,123 vaccinations done in the area, 4,919 more than the agency reported before.

Only 4,124 of those occurred on Tuesday, with just 275 coming from pharmacies.

A spokesperson for the task force told Global News that that some numbers are reported late, causing the difference in the two totals.

Regardless, the task force says that 33.89 per cent of the region’s estimated 588,878 people have now received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 16,533 people have had two shots.

Waterloo Public Health also reported another 61 positive tests for the coronavirus on Thursday, lifting the total number of COVID-19 cases to 14,567.

This drops the rolling seven-day average number of new cases ever so slightly to 62.3.

There were also 62 people who were cleared of the virus, pushing the total number of resolved cases to 13,794.

1:13 Ng says Canada ‘actively’ participating in negotiations to waive patent protection for COVID-19 vaccines

No new COVID-19-related deaths were reported, leaving the death toll in the area at 253. A death was announced on Monday, which was the only one in May so far.

This leaves the area with 502 active COVID-19 cases.

There are now 49 people in area hospitals, including 39 who are in intensive care.

While the number of people has dropped quickly from a peak of 71 on April 28, the ICUs have now reached a new peak rate.

According to local hospitals, a total of 41 patients have been transferred into area ICUs since April 22, although they could not say how many remain.

The number of COVID-19 outbreaks in the area dropped to 14 after several were declared over including ones in retail, the food and beverage industry, St Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener and  Willowbrae Academy in Cambridge.

Elsewhere, Ontario reported 3,424 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday. The provincial total now stands at 483,057.

According to Thursday’s report, 958 cases were recorded in Toronto, 900 in Peel Region, 291 in York Region, 175 in Durham Region, 155 in Hamilton, 129 in Halton Region and 127 in Niagara Region.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 125 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 8,213 as 26 more deaths were recorded.