For the second day in a row, Waterloo Public Health reported Tuesday a COVID-related death in the region.
“Today we are reporting one death in our community related to COVID-19,” said Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health, on Tuesday.
“The individual was a male in his 70s. I wish to express my deep sympathy to the family of this individual.”
There have now been 397 COVID-related deaths in the area since the pandemic began, including 84 in 2022.
While the pressure has eased on area hospitals, there are still 30 patients suffering from COVID-19, including 13 who are in need of intensive care.
The hospitals are still also dealing with four COVID-19 outbreaks, with one at St Mary’s General Hospital having been declared over.
There are still 11 active outbreaks in areas of concern including four in congregate settings and three in long-term care or retirement homes.
Waterloo Public Health announced another 40 new positive tests for the coronavirus on Tuesday, lifting the total number of COVID-19 cases in the area to 40,553.
This puts the rolling seven-day average number of new daily cases at 56.3. A week ago, that number was 60, but the testing numbers are considered an underestimate due to testing restrictions.
Another 98 people have also been cleared of the virus, lifting the number of resolved cases to 39,664.
The area is down to 484 active COVID-19 cases, the lowest total the area has seen since mid-December.
Elsewhere, Ontario reported 914 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Tuesday, with 278 in intensive care units.
This is up by 65 hospitalizations but a decrease of one in ICUs since the previous day. Last Tuesday, there were 1,038 hospitalizations with 319 in ICU.
Meanwhile, Ontario also reported 1,176 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, though that is an underestimate of the true widespread transmission of the virus due to testing restrictions. The provincial case total now stands at 1,103,187.
Of the 1,176 new cases recorded, the data showed 165 were unvaccinated people, 27 were partially vaccinated people, and 858 were fully vaccinated people. For 126 people, the vaccination status was unknown.
The death toll in the province has risen to 12,451 as 18 more virus-related deaths were added. A ministry of health spokesperson said 16 of the deaths occurred over the past 18 days. The other two deaths occurred more than a month ago.
— With files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues