The situation in the health network continues to improve in Quebec, while the province reports Thursday a sharp drop in hospitalizations. While COVID-19 deaths continue to pile up, their numbers now appear to be stabilizing.
Posted at 11:01 a.m.
Updated at 11:19 a.m.
On Thursday, 56 new deaths linked to the virus were reported, bringing the daily average to 61 in this regard. The trend is thus down 17% over one week, clearly showing a slowdown in the mortality rate for a few days already.
To date, 3,153 patients infected with the disease remain hospitalized in Quebec, which represents a decrease of 117 hospitalizations compared to the previous day. This results in 231 new entries and 348 exits. Of the total, 235 people are still in intensive care, a drop of 17 cases in 24 hours in this regard (17 entries, 34 exits).
These 3,153 people hospitalized represent a drop of 8% over one week. In intensive care, the drop is 18% over the same period.
Authorities are also reporting 3,956 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the seven-day average to 4,368, a trend that has also been declining for some time. However, it should be remembered that these figures are not representative of the epidemiological situation due to the limits imposed on screening, which is now reserved for certain groups of the population.
Earlier on Tuesday, Public Health nevertheless carried out 34,830 screening tests, a relatively stable figure compared to the weekly average.
On the vaccination side, almost 78,790 additional doses of vaccine were administered on Tuesday, of which more than 63,000 were third doses. Added to this cumulative 5874 vaccinated given before January 26 who had not yet been counted. Including people vaccinated outside the province, so far nearly 17.7 million doses have been given to Quebecers.
Figures released in the morning by the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) also showed that as of Wednesday, 2,264 people, a jump of 101 compared to January 19, have so far been hired in reinforcement in the health network. Some 5,325 people who worked part-time also “went to full-time”, an increase of 144 people in one week.
This all comes as the acting national director of public health, Dr.r Luc Boileau, is to hold a first press briefing separate from the government on Thursday at 3 p.m. He will be accompanied for the occasion by the interim CEO of his former employer, the National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services (INESSS), Michèle de Guise, and the strategic medical advisor of the MSSS, Marie-France Raynault.
With Pierre-André Normandin