MONTREAL -- Quebec added 707 new cases of COVID-19 to the province’s tally on Thursday, bringing the total to 290,377 the beginning of the pandemic.

The seven-day average for daily cases is now 721 per day, and there are 7,379 active cases in Quebec, the lowest the number has been since the end of September.

The province also recorded 20 new deaths, bringing the total to 10,455. One death was removed from the tally which was found not to be attributable to COVID-19.

Of those 20 deaths, four occured in the last 24 hours, seven between Feb. 25 and March 2, and nine before that period. 

After decreasing on Wednesday, hospitalizations rose with eight more people in care on Thursday, for a total of 626. Of those, 115 people are in intensive care, a decrease of five.

On the province's third day of mass vaccinations, 16,619 doses were administered, for a total of 490,504.

On March 2, health-care workers conducted 29,151 coronavirus tests. Quebec releases its testing figures 48 hours after the reported day.

REGIONAL BREAKDOWN

Montreal was the most affected region, reporting 319 new coronavirus infections, for a total of 107,405 since March 2020.

Next was Laval (106 new, 24,967 total), Monteregie (66 new, 42,038 total), and the Laurentians (53 new, 16,532 total).

Montreal added 10 new deaths, the most of any region, for a total of 4,529. Next was Monteregie (four new, 1,482 total), Mauricie-et-Centre-du-Québec (three new, 507 total), Quebec City (one new, 989 total) and Laval (one new, 870 total)