Less than 40 new COVID-19 cases reported in Waterloo Region for 3rd straight day

Waterloo Public Health reported another 32 positive tests for the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases in the area to 15,741.

This is the third straight day the agency has reported less than 40 cases and drops the rolling seven-day average number of new cases down to 47.1.

Another 83 people were also cleared of the virus, pushing the total number of resolved cases to 15,088.

For the fourth straight day, no new COVID-19-related deaths were reported, leaving the death toll in the area at 256, including four victims this month.

This leaves the area with 381 active COVID-19 cases, which is the lowest number Waterloo Public Health has reported since April 5.

The area still has seven active COVID-19 outbreaks, although one has come to an end in an auto dealership while another has been declared in the health services sector.

Waterloo Region’s vaccine distribution task force reported that there have now been 294,019 vaccinations done in the area, 4,722 more than it reported 24 hours earlier.

1:38 Popularity of aquariums amid pandemic brings Calgary company ‘big opportunity for growth’

It says that 57.19 per cent of adults have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 4.01 per cent have had two.

Those numbers drop to 45.66 per cent and 3.17 per cent when one takes into account the entire population of Waterloo Region.

The goal is to have 75 per cent of residents vaccinated, which would, in theory, achieve herd immunity.

Ontario is reporting 1,095 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. The provincial total now stands at 526,045.

Wednesday’s case count is slightly up from Tuesday, which saw 1,039 new infections, but case counts over the past couple of weeks continue to trend downwards. On Monday, 1,446 new cases were recorded, and 1,691 on Sunday.

According to Wednesday’s report, 257 cases were recorded in Toronto, 215 in Peel Region, 224 in Hamilton, 123 in Durham Region and 101 in York Region. Toronto and Peel Region continue to see a significant drop daily in new cases.

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 8,678 as 23 more deaths were recorded.

*With files from Global News’ Gaby Rodrigues