10% of kids aged 5-11 in Waterloo Region have now had a dose of COVID-19 vaccine

After just three days, Waterloo Public Health says 10 per cent of children aged five to 11 from the area have received a dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Friday was the first day that clinics began providing shots to this age group. About 4,800 have received their first dose.

The addition of this age group means that 77.97 per cent of all area residents have now had at least one dose of vaccine while 74.99 per cent of Waterloo Region’s population is now fully vaccinated.

The latter number will begin to climb rapidly in 60 days when these kids become eligible for a second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

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Overall, Waterloo Public Health says there have now been 926,097 doses given in the area, 5,793 more than was reported on Friday.

There are 453,871 residents of the region who have had two jabs of the needle, which is 490 more than was announced on Friday.

Waterloo Public Health no longer reports on weekends so Monday’s dashboard update is a three-day total.

On the other side of the ledger, Waterloo Public Health reported 60 new positive tests for the coronavirus, raising the total number of cases in the area to 20,893. This is well down from a week ago when the three-day total was 98.

It causes a significant dip to the rolling seven-day average number of new daily cases, which now stands at 26.7. On Friday, that number was 32.1.

Another 73 people were cleared of the virus, pushing the total number of resolved cases in the area to 20,349.

The area is back down to 235 active COVID-19 cases, down 13 from Friday.

Area hospitals also have seven patients who are suffering from COVID-19, including three who are in need of intensive care.

There are 12 active COVID-19 outbreaks again after a new one was declared at an unnamed retail location connected to two cases.

Ontario is reporting 788 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, as the counts continue to rise week over week. The provincial case total now stands at 617,803.

For comparison, last Monday saw 627 new cases and the previous Monday saw 552. All three Mondays saw testing volumes in the 20,000 range.

Of the 788 new cases recorded, the data showed 412 were unvaccinated people, 27 were partially vaccinated people, 315 were fully vaccinated people and for 34 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Monday’s report, 106 cases were recorded in Toronto, 84 in Windsor-Essex, 80 in Simcoe Muskoka, 49 in Peel Region, 48 in York Region and 47 in KFLA. All other local public health units reported fewer than 45 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 9,997 as three more deaths were reported.

— with files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues