The spread of COVID-19 is stabilizing in Quebec, but the number of hospitalizations and deaths continues to decline.
Posted at 11:45 a.m.
The province reported one new death attributed to the coronavirus on Monday, bringing the seven-day daily average to nine. The trend is down 26% over one week.
Quebec also reported Monday a drop of 28 hospitalizations. The 1,566 people currently hospitalized represent a drop of 7% over one week. In intensive care, the 29 patients represent a drop of 20% over one week.
The number of people in hospital is expected to continue to decline over the next few days, with discharges outpacing admissions. On average, there are 17 fewer patients every day.
The number of workers absent due to the pandemic decreased slightly. They were 3201 Monday to have to isolate themselves.
On the other hand, the spread of COVID-19 is no longer declining. The 554 new cases reported on Monday bring the daily average to 724. The trend is thus stable 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 7.0%.
In addition to the cases detected by PCR tests, 700 people also reported over the weekend having tested positive on a rapid test. Self-reported cases, which are not included in daily reported cases, have been stable for a week.
Vaccination increases
The pace of the vaccination campaign has regained momentum since the arrival of the bivalent vaccine, that is, the one adapted to the Omicron variant. Quebec administers an average of 14,000 doses per day.
On the other hand, despite the increase in the number of people going to be vaccinated, vaccination coverage in Quebec continues to decline. Taking into account the fact that Public Health recommends getting vaccinated after five months, 22.6% of Quebecers have their vaccination up to date. These are mainly people over 60 years old.
