Quebec reported on Friday that there are 69 fewer patients receiving care in the province's hospitals for COVID-19 than there were 24 hours ago.
The Health Ministry said there were 72 new patients and 141 were discharged, bringing the total number of hospitalizations to 1,493.
It is the first time the number of hospitalizations has been under 1,500 since April 4.
Of those, 51 people are in intensive care units, a decrease of two.
The number of health-care workers absent due to COVID-19-related reasons dropped below 5,000 on Friday with 4,810 absences (a decrease of 229).
A dozen more people have died due to the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths during the pandemic to 15,338.
NEW CASES
Out of 11,895 PCR tests analyzed, 612 were positive, making the positivity rate 6 per cent.
Since the start of the pandemic, Quebec has recorded 1,060,657 positive PCR tests.
In addition, 131 self-declared positive rapid tests were logged, bringing that total to 172,047.
The ministry is monitoring 445 active COVID-19 outbreaks and 10,452 active cases.
On May 18, a total of 12,321 samples were analyzed.
VACCINATION CAMPAIGN
Quebec health-care professionals administered 13,086 more doses of vaccines, including 12,640 in the past 24 hours.
Of those, 10,155 doses were fourth doses. Thirteen per cent of the eligible population (1,059,505 people) has received a fourth dose of the vaccine.
Since the vaccination campaign began, 19,824,501 doses of vaccine have been administered in the province and 332,708 have been given to Quebecers out of province.
