Two more women from the Waterloo region have suffered COVID-19- related deaths, according to Waterloo Public Health.
“Today we are reporting two deaths in our community related to COVID-19,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health, stated.
“One individual was a female in her 70s. The other individual was a female in her 50s. I wish to express my deep sympathy to the families of these individuals.”
This raises the death toll in the area to 399 since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, including the three fatalities announced so far this March.
The agency also reported that there are now 24 people in the three area hospitals being treated for COVID-19, a decrease of six over Tuesday, with 11 of those patients in need of intensive care.
There are also three COVID-19 outbreaks remaining in area hospitals after one was declared over at St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener.
Another was also declared over at St. Andrew’s Terrace nursing home in Cambridge which was first declared on Dec. 29, 2021, and had been connected to five deaths.
This leaves the area with nine active outbreaks in places of concern including four in congregate settings and two in long-term-care or retirement settings.
Waterloo Public Health reported another 62 new positive tests for the coronavirus on Monday, lifting the total number of cases in the area to 40,615.
This lifts the rolling seven-day average number of new daily cases back up to 51.2. A week ago, that number was 56.3, but the testing numbers are considered an underestimation of actual community caseload since changes to testing availability have decreased the veracity of the totals.
Another 167 people were also cleared of the virus, lifting the total number of resolved cases in the region to 39,733.
This leaves the area with 475 active COVID-19 cases, the lowest total the region has announced since mid-December 2021.
Elsewhere, Ontario reported 847 people in hospital with COVID on Wednesday, with 273 in intensive care units as figures continue to trend downwards.
This is down by 67 hospitalizations and a decrease of five in ICUs since the previous day. Last Wednesday, there were 1,106 hospitalizations with 319 in ICU.
Meanwhile, Ontario also reported 1,959 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, though that is an underestimate of the true widespread transmission of the virus due to testing restrictions. The provincial case total now stands at 1,105,146.
The death toll in the province has risen to 12,478 as 27 more virus-related deaths were added. A ministry of health spokesperson said 24 of the deaths occurred over the past 30 days. The other three deaths occurred more than a month ago.
– with files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues