The number of active COVID-19 cases in Quebec dropped below 20,000 for the first time since Dec. 15 on Tuesday.

There are now 19,267 active cases being monitored by the Quebec Institute of Public Health (INSPQ), 897 fewer than 24 hours ago.

The Ministry of Health is monitoring 831 active outbreaks.

The province also added 30 more deaths due to the disease, bringing that total to 13,886 since the start of the pandemic.

HOSPITALIZATIONS, ICU NUMBERS DROP

Hospitalizations dropped by 34 for a total of 1,742 with 101 patients checking in for treatment, and 135 being discharged.

Of the new patients, 67 are over 60 years old with 39 of those triple-vaccinated, 17 double-vaccinated, eight unvaccinated and one having received a single dose of vaccine before checking in. Two patients' vaccination status was unknown.

Of the 34 patients under 60, seven were triple-vaccinated, nine double-vaccinated, five unvaccinated and one had received a single dose. Five were under five years old and ineligible for vaccination, four were between five and 11 and fully vaccinated, and three were unknown.

There were 12 fewer intensive care unit patients on Tuesday, dropping that total to 107. Of the seven patients admitted or transferred into the ICU, four were over 60 (three triple-vaccinated, one double-vaccinated), and three were under 60 (all unvaccinated).

The ministry says unvaccinated people are 7.6 times more likely to require vaccination and 14.8 more likely to wind up in the ICU.

There are 714,348 unvaccinated individuals in the province out of 8,563,901, according to the ministry.

TESTING DATA

Of 15,984 PCR tests conducted in Quebec, 1,438 came back positive.

In addition, 554 more self-declared rapid tests were registered, including 410 positive results.

In total, 91,466 self-tests have been registered, including 71,296 positive results.

On Feb. 20, a total of 17,158 samples were analyzed. 

VACCINATION DATA

Quebec health-care professionals administered 15,030 more doses of vaccine in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of vaccinations in Quebec to 18,341,739.

Of the new doses, 10,437 were third doses.