Quebec has recorded 1,200 cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, which is a high since the end of the third wave in the province. However, no new case of the Omicron variant has yet been detected.
“This morning, don’t be surprised when we’re going to release our figures at 11 am: 1200 cases. You have to be careful, and not just because of the new variant. Sanitary measures must be followed at this time. I want us to arrive at Christmas as low as possible in our cases, ”indeed revealed the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, during a press briefing in the morning at the National Assembly.
At the same time, he urged Quebecers to follow the health instructions to the letter in the coming weeks. “Hospitalizations have increased by 10 cases per day for three days. This is what you are going to see this morning at 11 am, so let’s remain cautious, ”insisted the minister, reiterating shortly after that“ 1,200 cases today, I don’t like that ”.
Taking into account these new data, we therefore observe an increase of about 28% of new cases per day, over a period of one week. In the past seven days, authorities have reported around 960 cases daily.
The last time Quebec reached the 1,200 case mark was on April 21, near the end of the third wave of COVID-19. At that time, there were about ten deaths per day.
Mr. Dubé says that “cases are one thing”, but that he will mainly monitor the increase in hospitalizations and intensive care admissions. “This is really the reason why we ask people to continue to follow the sanitary measures. We must keep these figures low so that we can enter the holiday season at the right level, ”he reiterated, speaking of the health network.
No new case of the Omicron variant has been detected since the first infection confirmed on Monday, but efforts continue to screen and sequence the cases that would arrive in Quebec, also indicated Minister Dubé. “Now that we know there is a new variant, all travelers and people returning from outside are going to be screened. And if the screening is suspect, we will sequence them. There will also be systematic screening which will be done on certain days to assess whether there is no internal transmission, ”the national director of public health, Dr.r Horacio Arruda, on this.