88 new COVID-19 cases reported in Waterloo region Friday

Waterloo region saw 88 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.

That brings the total in April to 1,725 and since the start of the pandemic to 13,675. Of that, 12,820 have been marked as resolved.

The number of active cases rose nine cases to 592. The number of people in hospital dropped by five cases to 57 but the number of people in intensive care units in the region rose by one to 25.

Case rates were "relatively stable" in the region, the region's medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang said, "but this can change quickly."

"We are starting to see the impact of the stay-at-home order in our case rates but we are experiencing more outbreaks, hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths as these always follow a rise in case numbers," Wang said.

"The impacts on our health-care system and the number of deaths will likely continue to grow."

There were no new deaths reported on Friday.

The region reports there are 1,440 cases that have screened positive for a variant of concern. Of those, 44 are confirmed to be the B117 first detected in the U.K. There is also a single confirmed case each of the B1351 first detected in South Africa and the P1 variant first seen in Brazil.

29 active outbreaks

There were 29 active outbreaks in the region including one at a long-term care home where two staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.

There were seven outbreaks in schools, including:

• Two outbreaks at École secondaire catholique Père-René-de-Galinée in Cambridge: One with three cases and one with two cases.
• St. Bernadette Catholic School in Kitchener with three cases.
• St. Anne Catholic Elementary School in Cambridge with three cases.
• St. John's Kilmarnock School in Breslau with two cases.
• Queensmount Public School in Kitchener with two cases.
• Sunnyside Public School in Kitchener with two cases.

There were 17 workplace outbreaks. They included: 

• Three in manufacturing workplaces: One with 10 cases, one with three cases and one with two cases.
• Three at retail stores: One with eight case, one with six cases, one with five cases.
• Two at food processors: One with 16 cases and one with six cases.
• Two at construction workplaces: One with five cases, one with four cases.
• Two at trades business: One with three cases, one with two cases.
• Two at automobile sales and service businesses with three cases at each.
• Two in general office settings with two cases each.
• One at a financial institution with three cases.

The other outbreaks included:

• Three in congregate settings: One with four cases, two with a single case each.
• One at St. Mary's General Hospital.