The number of active COVID-19 cases in Waterloo Region has gone up for the first time in over two weeks as health officials reported 72 new cases on Saturday.
The last time the active case count increased, it was on Jan. 21 and went up by four cases. On Saturday, the tally increased by 18.
The online dashboard update also shows 52 more cases now considered resolved, which brings this total over 9,000.
No new related deaths have been reported and there has been no change in the number of people being treated in the ICU.
Meanwhile, seven more people have been hospitalized.
This brings the Waterloo Region COVID-19 totals to 9,729 confirmed cases, 9,038 resolved, 207 deaths, 481 active cases, 34 hospitalizations, and nine people being treated in the ICU.
The active COVID-19 facility outbreak count remains unchanged at 34.
In Ontario, 1,388 new infections were confirmed on Saturday, which represent a decrease from the 1,670 cases reported a day earlier. However, government officials said that Friday’s count was an overestimation due to a data migration in Toronto.
According to Saturday’s epidemiology report, there are now 164 confirmed cases of the U.K. B.1.1.7. COVID-19 variant in the province, up from the 155 infections reported on Friday.
There continues to be only one case of the South African B.1.351 variant, according to the province.
The total number of lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario now stand at 276,718, including deaths and recoveries.
