As Quebec reports 756 new cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths on Monday, figures show that around 70,000 young people aged 5 to 11 have already received their first dose, which means that one in ten children has already been partially vaccinated.
Despite a total that is lower than the previous day, the upward trend in new infections continues in the province. The 756 new cases in fact bring the daily average to 903. The trend is thus up 29% over one week.
With two more deaths, the average death rate remains at two, a trend that remains stable over one week. There are currently 22 more people hospitalized compared to last week, an increase of 11%.
In the Quebec health network, there has been an increase of 10 hospitalizations, or 22 new admissions and 12 more discharges. So far, 226 patients remain hospitalized in connection with COVID-19, of which 45 are still in intensive care, a drop of three cases in this regard in the last 24 hours.
The unvaccinated continue to represent the majority of new cases. These report an average of 518 cases per day, against 347 for people adequately vaccinated. The infection rate is thus 298 per million unvaccinated against 53 per million people who received their two doses. Unvaccinated people are at a much higher risk of hospitalization if they catch the disease. These show a rate of 5.8 admissions per day per million people, compared to 1.5 among adequately vaccinated people.
Boost for vaccination
On the vaccination side, a little more than 22,000 additional doses were administered during the day on Sunday, to which are added 550 vaccines given before November 28 which had not yet been counted by the Ministry of Health and Social Services ( MSSS). The speed of the campaign has been accelerating for a few days already, due to the appointment of 5-11 year olds. Including citizens vaccinated outside the province, more than 13.8 million doses have been given to Quebecers since the start of the pandemic.
Important fact: So far, around 70,000 young people aged 5 to 11 have already received their first dose. Thus, just five days after their eligibility, 10.6% of children in this age group were vaccinated. These young people should receive their second dose from the end of January, after an interval of eight weeks.
More generally, the start of vaccination for 5 to 11 year olds has also made it possible to move the cursor in vaccination coverage. Thus, 80.7% of Quebecers have received at least one dose. In total, 77.9% of the population is currently adequately vaccinated.
Authorities carried out 23,013 screening tests on Saturday, a relatively stable figure compared to the weekly average.
At 1 p.m. Monday, Minister of Health Christian Dubé and National Director of Public Health, Dr.r Horacio Arruda, must take stock of the COVID-19 situation in Quebec.
They should in particular return to the case of the Omicron variant, while the first two cases of the new variant which were confirmed in Ottawa on Sunday, arrived in Canada through Montreal, according to what health authorities confirmed on Monday. A suspected case has also been detected in Quebec.