Region adds 46 new COVID cases Thursday

Region of Waterloo Public Health reported 46 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday. That compares with 49 new cases on Wednesday.

There have been 21,271 local cases since March, 2020.

Hospitalizations are down to 12 — two people are being treated in intensive care (Hospital data is current to Dec. 7)

The active caseload is up to 346.

79.54 per cent of residents five and over in Waterloo Region are now fully vaccinated. Over 968,000 doses have been administered to local residents.

29.34 per cent of children between 5 and 11 have received at least one dose.

Here are some other updates from the region's COVID summary dashboard: 

• 7,307 cases have screened positive for variants of concern – 3,127 are the Alpha variant – 21 are linked to the Beta variant – 3,799 are linked to the Delta strain – 98 are linked to the Gamma variant – 262 cases where a mutation has been detected 
• The local death toll remains at 309. No new deaths were reported Thursday
• 20,608 resolved cases (97 per cent)
• Over 657,000 tests have been done

There are 16 outbreaks in the region:

• Grand River Hospital – 5N Stroke Unit
• Construction 21 (4 cases)
• Sports and fitness – ringette-related 1 (2 cases)
• Glencairn Public School (3 cases)
• Mary Johnston Public School (2 cases)
• Sir Adam Beck Public school (3 cases)
• Saint John Paul II Catholic Elementary School (4 cases)
• Sales/service – automobile 10 (2 cases)
• Forest Glen Public School (2 cases)
• St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Elementary School (6 cases)
• Lester B. Pearson Public School (3 cases)
• Southridge Public School (15 cases)
• Cedar Creek Public School – cohort (3 cases)
• Construction 16 (3 cases)
• Retail 18 (4 cases)
• Transportation 4 (3 cases)

Meanwhile, the province reported 1,290 new cases Thursday — 548 were unvaccinated.

The rest of the provincial COVID-19 totals are posted below:

• 81 per cent of those 5 and over have been fully vaccinated
• 627,611 total cases
• 608,896 resolved cases
• In hospital due to COVID – 106 unvaccinated – 8 partially vaccinated – 77 fully vaccinated. ICU data – 64 unvaccinated – 5 partially vaccinated – 24 fully vaccinated
• 10,054 deaths (10 new)
• 40,242 tests completed Wednesday — Over 20.04 million since January 15, 2020