16% of Waterloo Region residents aged 5-11 have had COVID-19 vaccine shot

Waterloo Public Health reported Thursday that 16.06 per cent of area residents aged five to 11 have now had a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

As the agency has recently said, there are 48,000 kids in the age group in the area which means that more than 7,500 of them have received a vaccination over the first five days of them being offered.

Overall, Waterloo Public Health says that 454,521 residents are now fully vaccinated, which is 245 more than it reported on Wednesday. This works out to 75.1 per cent of the region’s population.

There have also now been 932,020 vaccinations done in the area, which is 2,759 more than was reported 24 hours earlier.

On the other end of the spectrum, Waterloo Public Health reported that another 31 people tested positive for the coronavirus, raising the total number of cases in the area to 20,994.

This lifts the rolling seven-day daily average number of new cases back up to 30.

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There was also a new COVID-19-related death was reported Thursday, lifting the death toll in the area to 308.

“Today we are reporting one death in our community related to COVID-19,” Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang stated.

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

Another 29 people were also cleared of the virus, lifting the total number of resolved cases in the area to 20,445.

This leaves the area with 239 active COVID-19 cases, one more than was announced on Wednesday and eight more than were reported last week.

There are also 11 people in area hospitals as a result of COVID-19 including six who are in need of intensive care.

And the area is down to nine COVID-19 outbreaks after one was announced at  Southridge Public School in Kitchener while others came to an end in unnamed retail and career skills locations.

Elsewhere, Ontario reported 959 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, as the counts continue to rise week over week. The provincial case total now stands at 620,229.

For comparison, last Thursday saw 748 new cases and the previous Thursday saw 711. All three Thursdays saw similar testing volumes in the 30,000 range.

Of the 959 new cases recorded, the data showed 446 were unvaccinated people, 23 were partially vaccinated people, 429 were fully vaccinated people and for 61 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Thursday’s report, 118 cases were recorded in Toronto, 91 in Windsor-Essex, 75 each in Peel Region and Simcoe Muskoka, 59 in Ottawa, and 53 in York Region. 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 10,012 as seven more deaths were reported.

 – with files from Gloabl News’ Gabby Rodrigues