Waterloo Region remains epicentre of COVID-19 growth in Ontario

On Thursday, the Ontario government once again reported Waterloo Region to be the worst in the province with regards to new COVID-19 cases.

The province announced 296 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday morning with 95 of those being reported in Waterloo Region.

There were just 35 new cases in Toronto, 20 in Peel Region, 19 in Hamilton, 17 in Ottawa and 16 in Durham Region.

Later in the day, Waterloo Public Health reported its numbers, announcing 63 new cases, raising the total number in the area to 16,488.

The disparity can be explained by the two levels of government collecting their data from different points in the day.

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The local seven-day rolling average number of new cases fell slightly again to 59.3.

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Waterloo Public Health also announced two more COVID-19-related deaths on Thursday, lifting the total in the area to 262, including six this month.

“Today, we are reporting two deaths in our community related to COVID-19,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang stated.

“The individuals were a male in his 50s and male in his 60s. I wish to express my deep sympathy to the family and loved ones of each individual.”

Another 63 people were also cleared of the virus, pushing the total number of resolved cases to 16,488.

This leaves the area with 504 active cases, slightly more than what Waterloo Pubic Health reported 24 hours earlier.

There are now 61 people in area hospitals as a result of COVID-19, up nine from Wednesday’s numbers. Of those patients, 24 are in intensive care units across Waterloo Region, Guelph and Fergus.

On the flip side of the coin, a record 9,535 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were delivered in the area on Thursday, according to the region’s vaccine distribution task force.

This raises the total number of vaccinations in the area to 492,278, with a large portion of the latest deliveries once again going into the arms of people seeking a second jab.

The task force says 109,791 people have now received at least one dose of a vaccine, up 8,161 from Wednesday.

A total of 63.83 per cent of the region’s population has now received at least one dose of a vaccine, while that number sits at 18.64 per cent for those who are fully vaccinated.