Quebec’s COVID-19 death toll continues to mount. The province reported Friday 17 new deaths and an increase of 15 hospitalizations.
Posted at 11:17 a.m.
The 17 new deaths reported on Friday bring the daily average calculated over seven days to 10. The number of deaths reported daily has thus doubled for a week.
Quebec also reports an increase of 15 hospitalizations on Friday. The 1,549 people currently hospitalized represent an increase of 18% over one week. In intensive care, the 41 patients represent an increase of 8% over one week.
The number of people in hospital is likely to continue to rise in the coming days, with the number of admissions continuing to outpace discharges. On average, there are 34 more patients every day.
In addition to the increase in the number of hospitalizations, the number of absences among health network personnel remains high. There are currently 7,310 healthcare workers absent due to COVID-19.
The 1,597 new cases reported on Friday bring the daily average to 1,375. The trend is thus up 17% over one week. These numbers likely reflect only a portion of total infections, due to limited access to PCR testing. Moreover, the proportion of PCR screening tests proving positive for COVID-19 remains high, at 14.5%.
In addition to the cases detected by PCR tests, 1,310 people have also reported in recent days having obtained a positive result from a rapid test. Self-reported cases, which are not included in daily reported cases, have increased by 35% over the past week.
The vaccination campaign continues to progress. Quebec administers an average of nearly 5,900 doses per day, up 42% over one week.
To date, 83.5% of Quebecers have received two doses, but only 52.6% have had three and 14.7% have received four.
