Waterloo Public Health reported four new COVID-19-related deaths on Wednesday, pushing the death toll in the region to 328.
“Today we are reporting four deaths in our community related to COVID-19: a male in his 80s, a male in his 50s, a female in her 90s, and a female in her 80s,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health stated.
“I wish to express my deep sympathy to the families of these individuals.”
There have now been 15 deaths announced in Waterloo Region since Jan. 1 including six over the past three days.
There are also 131 people in area hospitals who are suffering from COVID-19 including 21 who are in need of intensive care. On Tuesday, those numbers were reported as 136 and 17.
Waterloo Public Health reported another 359 positive tests for the coronavirus on Wednesday, lifting the total number of cases in the area to 35,790. This drops the rolling seven-day average number of new daily cases down to 447.3 from 468.9.
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The agency warns that due to testing availability, case counts on its dashboard are likely lower than the actual number of cases in Waterloo Region.
Another 243 people were cleared of the virus, lifting the total number of resolved cases to 26,285. The area now has 3,843 active COVID-19 cases, down from the 4,093 reported on Monday.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the region says it has changed how it handles cases due to the recent surge, which has prompted a change in how it counts resolved cases.
There are currently 76 active COVID-19 outbreaks in the area, which is unchanged from Tuesday with 39 of them being connected to long-term care or retirement homes, 28 are in congregate settings with the other nine being linked to hospitals.
On the flip side of the coin, Waterloo Public Health reports that there have now been 2,941 COVID-19 vaccinations done in the region, which is 2,941 more than Tuesday.
The agency also says 243,081 area residents have now received three doses of COVID-19 vaccine, which is 2,579 more than it reported 24 hours earlier.
The number of residents who are fully vaccinated climbed by 338 to 468,195 which means that 77.36 per cent of all area residents are now considered fully vaccinated.
Elsewhere, Ontario reported 4,132 people in hospital with COVID on Wednesday, though just over half of them were initially admitted due to virus complications, with 589 in intensive care units.
The province recently began distinguishing between those who were admitted to hospital directly because of COVID, and those who were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for the virus.
Meanwhile, Ontario also reported 5,744 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, though that is an underestimate of the true widespread transmission of the virus due to recent testing restrictions. The provincial case total now stands at 969,437.
The death toll in the province has risen to 10,726 as 60 more virus-related deaths were added. One of the deaths occurred more than a month ago, officials noted.
— with files from Gabby Rodrigues
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