The pressure seems to continue to decrease in the health network, but deaths linked to COVID-19 are still accumulating in the province, while the vaccination campaign is still struggling to pick up speed.
Posted at 11:01 a.m.
Updated at 11:17 a.m.
The 63 new deaths reported on Tuesday by Quebec government authorities bring the daily average to 50. The trend is thus down 28% over one week.
During this time, we nevertheless observe a further drop of 36 hospitalizations, which translates into 207 new admissions and 243 discharges. To date, 2,852 patients remain hospitalized in connection with the virus, of which 218 are still in intensive care, a decrease of five cases in this regard (19 entries, 24 exits).
To date, the 2,852 people hospitalized represent a drop of 13% over one week. The drop is 17% in intensive care.
2,730 new cases of COVID-19 were also reported on Tuesday, bringing the daily average in this regard to 3,315, a figure down 34% over one week. However, it should be remembered that these figures are not representative of the epidemiological situation due to the limits imposed on screening, which is now reserved for certain groups of the population.
On Sunday, Public Health had carried out 21,699 screening tests, a relatively stable figure compared to the weekly average.
So far, just over 48,100 rapid tests have been “self-declared” on the Legault government’s new digital platform, of which almost 36,400 have tested positive for COVID-19.
With regard to vaccination, the pace is accelerating, but in a rather modest way. During the day on Monday, 52,345 additional doses were administered, to which are added 1,610 vaccines given before January 31 which had not yet been counted. Including people vaccinated outside the province, so far more than 18 million doses have been given to Quebecers.
In the general population, 86.1% of Quebecers have one dose, 80.2% have two and approximately 43% of them now have their three doses.
This all comes as Prime Minister François Legault is due to speak at 1 p.m., along with Health Minister Christian Dubé and the acting national director of public health, Dr.r Luc Boileau, to provide an update on COVID-19. In particular, he should announce that he will drop the imposition of a tax or “health contribution” on non-vaccinated people, in addition to some relaxations such as the reopening of gyms and the resumption of sports for adults from February 14.
With Pierre-André Normandin