A total of 35.94 per cent of the area’s estimated population of 588,878 residents have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to Waterloo Region’s vaccine distribution task force.
On Monday, it reported that there have now been 228,325 vaccinations given in the region, 7,696 more than it reported on Friday. It is also just short of 1,000 more than what was reported a week earlier.
Aside from the numbers, another major difference is the number of vaccinations being done at pharmacies. The Monday count last week was around 1,200, while this week, the three-day total lands at around 460.
So more vaccinations are being done at clinics and it is expected that number will continue to accelerate as the supply increases while the pharmacy number decreases, a task force spokesperson told Global News.
“We’re expecting the vaccine supply to increase for the latter half of May and into June,” Sharon Ord said in an email.
“A shortage of AstraZeneca vaccine has limited the number of doses being administered at pharmacies.”
There were 48 new cases of COVID-19 reported by Waterloo Public Health on Monday, lifting the total number of cases in the area to 14,855.
This is the third time in a week that less than 50 cases were reported, pushing the rolling seven-day average number of new cases down to 59.1
That number stood at 65 last Monday and 108.7 two weeks ago.
On the flip side, another 61 people have also been cleared of the virus, pushing the total number of resolved cases up to 41,107.
No new COVID-19-related deaths have been reported since Saturday, leaving the death toll at 254.
The area now has 478 active COVID-19 cases.
The area still has 15 active COVID-19 outbreaks, which is unchanged from Sunday.
There are also 47 people in hospitals in Wellington County, Guelph and Waterloo Region as a result of COVID-19, including 35 people who are in intensive care units.
Ontario is reporting 2,716 new COVID-19 cases on Monday. The provincial total now stands at 495,019.
Monday’s case count is lower than Sunday’s, which saw 3,216 new infections. On Saturday, 2,864 new cases were recorded and on Friday there were 3,166. Monday’s total is also the lowest increase in daily cases since April 1 but its testing was quite low.
According to Monday’s report, 807 cases were recorded in Toronto, 707 in Peel Region, 294 in York Region, 168 in Durham Region and 106 in Hamilton.
All other local public health units reported fewer than 100 new cases in the provincial report.
The death toll in the province has risen to 8,327 as 19 more deaths were recorded.