The unvaccinated continue to make up the majority of COVID-19 cases, deaths in Waterloo Region

Waterloo’s top doctor says those who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 continue to make up a majority of new cases in the area.’

“We continue to see full vaccination provide strong protection against COVID-19 and severe outcomes,” Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hsiu Li Wang told reporters on Friday morning.

“Locally for all COVID-19 cases since May 1st, 72 per cent of cases were not vaccinated, 24.7 per cent were partially vaccinated or not yet fully protected by their vaccination, 3.3 per cent were fully vaccinated.”

The unvaccinated are becoming a smaller and smaller minority as 66 per cent (or 389,500) of all residents are now vaccinated according to the region’s COVID-19 vaccine task force.

This number rises to 76 per cent if you discount those who ineligible to be vaccinated.

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Wang said it was a similar story for those who have been hospitalized as a result of COVID-19 with 71.6 per cent of all cases involving the unvaccinated and another 23.9 percent involving those who are partially vaccinated.

“Eight deaths were among the fully vaccinated individuals, all individuals were in their 80s or older, and sadly, we know that this age group has been more vulnerable to severe outcomes,” she explained.

There have been 36 COVID-19-related deaths in the area since May 1, according to Waterloo Public Health’s numbers.

For the second straight day, Waterloo Public Health reported no deaths in the area, leaving the death toll in the area at 288.

The agency did report 19 new cases, lifting the total number of cases in the area to 18,738.

Another 19 people were also cleared of the virus, pushing the total number of resolved cases to 18,310.

This leaves the area with 135 active COVID-19 cases inlcluding 17 people who are in area hospitals, with 10 of those patients in need of intensive care.

The vaccine task force says there have now been 807,119 vaccinations in Waterloo Region, which is 1,734 more than reported on Thursday.

Elsewhere, Ontario reported 650 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the largest one-day increase since June 6 when it was at 663. The provincial case total now stands at 558,101.

Of the 650 new cases recorded, the data showed 426 were unvaccinated people, 64 were partially vaccinated people, 103 were fully vaccinated people and for 57 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Friday’s report, 136 cases were recorded in Toronto, 113 in Peel Region, 63 in York Region 58 in Windsor-Essex and 55 in Hamilton.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 50 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 9,450 as two more deaths were recorded.

*With files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues