Outbreaks and hospitalizations related to COVID-19 in Quebec remain stable. Despite this apparent improvement, the province continues to report a high number of deaths.
Posted yesterday at 11:31 am
The 10 new deaths reported on Thursday brought the daily average calculated over seven days to nine. The trend has increased since last week.
On the other hand, the situation in hospitals is stable. Quebec reported a stable balance sheet in the number of hospitalizations on Thursday. 2,085 people currently hospitalized are in line with last week’s balance sheet. Of these, 655 were admitted directly due to Covid-19. In intensive care, 54 patients also indicated a stable trend at one week.
The number of health workers absent due to the pandemic has also stabilized. On Thursday, the network counted 3985 absences, same as last week.
Thursday’s 1,057 new cases brought the daily average to 943. Thus the trend is up a little over 3% in a week. These numbers reflect only a fraction of total infections due to limited access to PCR testing. Moreover, the proportion of PCR screening tests that proved positive for COVID-19 stood at 9.2%.
In addition to the cases detected through PCR tests, 348 people were reported to have tested positive in the rapid test over the weekend. Self-reported cases, which are not included in daily reported cases, fell by 12% in the past week.
Vaccination increases
Vaccination campaign continues to accelerate. Quebec handles an average of 20,700 doses per day, or 24% more than last week.
The pace of the campaign also made it possible to slightly increase vaccination coverage. Considering the fact that public health recommends vaccination after five months, 20.9% of Quebecers currently have their vaccinations up to date. This represents a slight increase of 0.7 points over the previous week.
The uptick in vaccinations is mainly seen in people 60 and older, a group that is more vulnerable to COVID-19.
