MONTREAL -- As Quebecers begins the first night of a month-long curfew starting at 8 p.m. Saturday, the province set a new daily record of COVID-19 cases, with 3,127 people testing positive for the disease in the past 24 hours.

The number shatters the record of 2,869 new cases set Jan. 2 and is well above the seven-day average of 2,685.

The total number of positive novel coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic is now 226,233.

The Quebec Institute of Public Health reports that there are 24,589 active cases in the province.

Of those, 192,979 are reported to have recovered from the disease, 3,042 more than on Friday.

Quebec reported 41 new deaths due to the disease including 12 in the past 24 hours, 24 between Jan. 2 and Jan. 7 and five before Jan. 2.

The total number of people who have died due to COVID-19 in the province is now 8,647.

Quebec's vaccination campaign continued to increase with health-care professionals administering 13,101 doses Friday, which is 870 less than the 13,971 administered the day before. 

To date, 75,123 Quebecers have received their first dose of vaccination.

On the positive side of the daily updates, Quebec reported that 11 fewer people are receiving treatment for COVID-19 in the province's hospitals than were on Friday dropping the total number of hospitalizations to 1,392. Of those, 206 people are in the intensive care ward, a decrease of one.

On Jan. 7, 38,700 samples were analyzed. 

REGIONAL DATA

Montreal remains the pandemic epicentre in Canada reporting 1,531 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, and the island has now surpassed 80,000 total cases since the start of the pandemic with 80,065.

Monteregie (424 new, 32,068 total), Laval (222 new, 18,831 total), Quebec City (161 new, 19,378 total), and Lanaudiere (155 new, 16,536 total) were all hard hit to start the weekend.

Of the 41 new deaths, nine were reported in Montreal; eight in Monteregie (1,130 total); six in Quebec City (753 total); five in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean (235 total); four in Laval (782 total) and Lanaudiere (410 total); and three in Outaouais (133 total).

One death was reported in Mauricie-et-Centre-du-Quebec (382 total), and Chaudiere-Appalaches (203 total).