Deaths attributed to COVID-19 continue to rise rapidly in Quebec, with the province reporting 30 new deaths on Friday. The number of hospitalizations is also on a steady rise, with the number of people hospitalized increasing by 55.
Posted at 11:02
Updated at 11:12 a.m.
The 30 new deaths reported on Friday bring the daily average calculated over seven days to 19. The trend is up rapidly by 59% over one week.
Quebec is also reporting an increase of 55 new hospitalizations. The 1,637 people currently hospitalized represent an increase of 28% over one week. In intensive care, the 62 patients are stable compared to last week.
The number of people in hospital is expected to continue to increase over the next few days, with the number of admissions continuing to outpace discharges. On average, there are 52 more patients every day.
The 3,572 new cases reported on Friday bring the daily average to 3,100. The trend is thus up 24% 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 remains very high, at 15.3%.
In addition to the cases detected by PCR tests, 2,351 people have also reported in recent days having obtained a positive result from a rapid test. Self-reported cases, which are not included in daily reported cases, have increased by 3% for a week.
Thus, both PCR and self-reported cases continue to increase, but clearly show signs of slowing. A peak of the sixth wave is thus foreseeable in the next few days.