70 people hospitalized with COVID-19 with 33 in ICU in Waterloo region on Monday

There were 70 people in Waterloo region hospitals as of Monday, public health reports, with 33 people currently in the intensive care units.

Those numbers were up from the 62 people hospitalized with the infection and 27 people in the ICU reported on Sunday.

There were 47 new cases of the virus reported in the region. That brought the total number of cases in April to 1,997 and since the start of the pandemic to 13,947.

The number of resolved cases was reported to be 13,032 on Monday, which is 93.4 per cent of all cases in the region since March 2020.

The number of active cases dropped from 681 to 645.

There was one death of a person with the illness reported Monday, a man in his 80s. That brings the total number of COVID-related deaths in the region to 250.

There are now 1,672 cases that have tested positive for a variant of concern in the region. Of those, 45 are the B117 variant first detected in the U.K. There's also one each of the B1351 first detected in South Africa and the P1 variant first identified in Brazil.

Ontario reported 3,510 cases of COVID-19 on Monday, while the number of patients with the illness who need a ventilator to breathe topped 600.

24 active outbreaks

There were 24 active outbreaks in the region including two at long-term care homes where staff had tested positive for the virus. 

All outbreaks connected to schools have been declared over.

There were 18 outbreaks in workplaces:

• Four at retail stores: One with 10 cases, one with five cases and two with two cases each.
• Three at manufacturing workplaces: One with 11 cases, one with three cases and one with two cases.
• Three at trades businesses: One with three cases and two with two cases each.
• Two at food processors: One with 19 cases, one with seven cases.
• Two at construction workplaces: One with five cases, one with four cases.
• Two at automobile sales businesses with three cases at each.
• One at a financial institution with four cases.
• One at a food and beverage business with three cases.

The other outbreaks were:

• Two at congregate settings with a single case at each.
• One at the Willowbrae Academy Cambridge with five cases.
• One at St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener. The number of cases was not reported.