Region sees massive jump in COVID-19 cases classed as B117 variant, public health reports The number of COVID-19 cases in the region that have screened positive for the B117 variant jumped from 52 on Wednesday to 1,933 on Thursday because of changes to the way the province reports the data, public health says. Social Sharing CBC News · Waterloo region saw 61 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Thursday.(Kate Bueckert/CBC)