Quebec reported Friday a decline in hospitalizations related to COVID-19, but the spread and deaths remain on the rise.
The 11 deaths reported on Friday bring the daily average calculated over seven days to eight. The trend is up 16% over one week.
The province is also reporting a drop of 17 hospitalizations on Friday. The 1,962 people currently hospitalized, including 44 in intensive care, represent an increase of 9% over one week. Of these, 631 patients were hospitalized directly due to their COVID-19 infection, the others having been admitted for another reason.
The number of people in hospital is expected to continue to rise over the next few days, with the number of admissions outpacing discharges. On average, there are 22 more patients every day.
The 945 new cases by PCR tests reported on Friday bring the daily average to 980. The trend is thus up 12% 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 11.1%.
In addition to the cases detected by PCR tests, 174 people also reported over the weekend having tested positive on a rapid test. Self-reported cases, which are not included in daily reported cases, are stable over a week.
In hospitals, the number of workers absent due to the pandemic is on the rise. On Friday, there were 4,085 absences in the health network, or 9% more than a week ago.
