***Editor's note: The health department points out that due to changes in testing availability, case counts on its dashboard are an underestimate of the true number of individuals with COVID-19 in Waterloo Region. Local data is being provided on Fridays***
Region of Waterloo Public Health is reporting four new COVID-related deaths. It raises the local death toll to 444.
Hospitalizations have also climbed by four over the past week, to 54 in total. Seven patients are in intensive care with COVID-19, a decrease of three over last Friday.
498 new cases were also confirmed, putting the overall total at 49,374. The resolved case rate is 97.6 per cent.
The active caseload is now 516.
In terms of variants of concern, the region's dashboard shows 191 of those cases (95 per cent) have been linked to the Omicron variant since July 3.
82 per cent of residents five and over in Waterloo Region are now fully vaccinated. Over 1.39 million doses have been administered to local residents, including over 305,000 third doses. 49.6 per cent of residents have received a third dose.
53 per cent of children between 5 and 11 have received at least one dose. 40.8 are fully vaccinated.
There are 30 outbreaks in the region. You can find the complete list of outbreaks on the region's dashboard.
