The number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 continues to rise in Quebec, with the province reporting 28 more on Tuesday. The number of hospitalizations is also slightly up.
The 28 deaths reported on Tuesday bring the daily average calculated over seven days to 12. The trend is up 12% over one week. However, a significant part of this balance is due to a catch-up in data entry. Indeed, 15 of the 28 new deaths occurred more than a week ago.
The province also reported an increase of 31 hospitalizations on Tuesday. The 2,099 people currently hospitalized, including 57 in intensive care, represent an increase of 4% over one week. Of these, 699 patients were hospitalized directly due to their COVID infection, the others having been admitted for another reason.
The number of people hospitalized is expected to continue to increase over the next few days, with the number of admissions outpacing discharges. On average, there are 11 more patients every day.
Slight increase in spread
The 1,262 new cases by PCR tests reported on Tuesday bring the daily average to 1,126. The trend is thus up slightly by 2% over one week. These numbers likely reflect only a portion of total infections, due to limited access to PCR testing.
In addition to the cases detected by PCR tests, 255 people have also reported in the past few days having tested positive on a rapid test. Self-reported cases, which are not included in daily reported cases, increased by 10% over one week.
Vaccination declines
Meanwhile, the pace of the vaccination campaign continues to decline. Quebec administers an average of 13,900 doses per day, or 6% less than last week.
Sign of the slowdown in the campaign, vaccination coverage has declined for the first time since the beginning of October. Taking into account the fact that Public Health recommends getting vaccinated after five months, only 28.6% of Quebecers currently have their vaccination up to date.
Despite the low up-to-date vaccination rate in the population, vaccination coverage is higher among groups at higher risk of complications from COVID. In fact, more than 70% of people aged 70 and over have received a dose in the last five months.
