Close to 400,000 area residents have now had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to Waterloo Region’s vaccination task force.
The region should surpass that mark on Tuesday as there are now 399,820 citizens who are fully vaccinated, which is 909 more than what was reported Monday.
This means that 67.9 per cent of Waterloo Region residents have now had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, a number which climbs to 78.85 per cent when only including those who are fully vaccinated.
The task force says there have now been 822,268 vaccinations done in Waterloo Region, 1,320 more than what was reported 24 hours earlier.
On the other side of the ledger, Waterloo Public Health reported another 21 positive tests for the coronavirus on Tuesday, lifting the total number of COVID-19 cases in the area to 18,957.
This lifts the rolling seven-day average number of new cases to 21.3. A week ago, that number stood at 17.4.
Another 20 area residents have also been cleared of the virus, pushing the total number of resolved cases to 18,510.
And for the third day in a row, Waterloo Public Health did not report any new COVID-19-related deaths.
This leaves the death toll in the area at 289 including seven people this month.
The number of active cases rises slightly to 154, although that is 16 more than the 138 which was announced last Tuesday.
There are currently seven people in area hospitals (including Guelph General) suffering from COVID-19 with five of those patients in need of intensive care.
Elsewhere, Ontario reported 525 new COVID-19 cases, a dip in the daily total from the last several days, although Tuesdays typically see lower counts due to fewer testing numbers from the weekend. The provincial case total now stands at 565,550.
Of the 525 new cases recorded, the data showed 326 were unvaccinated people, 43 were partially vaccinated people, 91 were fully vaccinated people and for 65 people the vaccination status was unknown.
According to Tuesday’s report, 120 cases were recorded in Toronto, 60 each in both Peel Region and Windsor-Essex, 41 in Hamilton, 41 in Niagara Region, and 30 in York Region.
All other local public health units reported fewer than 30 new cases in the provincial report.
The death toll in the province has risen to 9,503 as five more deaths were recorded. However, the ministry of health said three of the deaths occurred more than two months ago. Two of the deaths are recent.
— with files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues