Over 300,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered in Waterloo Region

There have now been more than 300,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered in Waterloo Region.

The region’s COVID-19 vaccine administration task force reported Friday that there been a total of 304,628 doses administered, 5,527 more than it reported a day earlier.

The agency says that 59.27 per cent of adults in the area have now received at least a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a number that drops below 50 per cent (47.41) when factoring in the entire population.

The 60-69 age group has now seen more than 75 per cent of its population receive at least one dose of vaccine, joining the two older age groups above them.

A total of 4.22 per cent of those aged 18-plus have now received two doses of vaccine, 3.34 per cent overall, or 19,675 people in total.

The goal will be for at least 75 per cent of Waterloo Region’s estimated 588,000 residents to get fully vaccinated which would in theory achieve herd immunity.

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On the other side of the ledger, Waterloo Public Health reported just 36 new positive tests for the coronavirus on Friday, lifting the total number of cases in the area to 15,832.

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Another 48 people have also been cleared of the virus, raising the total number of resolved local cases to 15,185.

No new COVID-19-related deaths have been reported since last Saturday, leaving the death toll in the area at 256, including four victims this month.

The area is back down to 374 active COVID-19 cases, a slight drop from a day earlier.

The number of people in area hospitals (28) and in intensive care (23) remains unchanged for a third straight day.

The number of active COVID-19 outbreaks remains eight although there are now 10 COVID-19 cases connected to an outbreak at a farm in the area.

Elsewhere, Ontario reported 1,273 new COVID-19 cases on Friday. The provincial total now stands at 528,453.

According to Friday’s report, 269 cases were recorded in Toronto, 268 in Peel Region, 72 in Durham Region, 78 in Hamilton and 56 in York Region.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 55 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 8,711 as 14 more deaths were recorded.

–With files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues