Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said there were 206 new cases of COVID-19 in Waterloo Region on Wednesday.
In her daily update on Twitter, she lists public health units that have seen significant case increases. On Wednesday, that list included Waterloo Region.
The increase marks the largest single-day increase ever in the region, and the first time that daily cases have increased by more than 200.
Still, the region’s online COVID-19 dashboard doesn’t update until 1:30 p.m. and its numbers may differ from Elliott’s.
In a tweet of its own, Region of Waterloo Public Health said that the Ontario numbers are current as of Tuesday afternoon, while its online dashboard reports cases from the entire day before.
“Our local reporting cycle is from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. so we need time to collate the data before releasing the update at 1:30 p.m.,” the post read in part.
In an emailed statement, a public health spokesperson said that difference in reporting time “often accounts for differences in daily reporting.”
“Today’s numbers for Ontario’s data page will be from Monday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon,” the Region of Waterloo Public Health spokesperson said.
That means that, while the minister’s numbers are accurate, the region’s dashboard will very likely report a different number on Wednesday afternoon.
The dashboard currently shows that there have been more than 6,400 cases, including 169 deaths. Of the total caseload, there are over 700 active cases in the region, the most there have ever been.
Elliott’s update also said that Ontario had reported another 3,266 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday while completing more than 51,000 tests. The bulk of the new cases were in Toronto, Peel and York Region, which saw 805, 523 and 349, respectively.
The other public health units listed were Windsor-Essex County with 208 and Waterloo Region.
The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit reported its own discrepancy on Wednesday, reporting 170 new cases.
