MONTREAL -- Quebec’s vaccination campaign hit a milestone on Wednesday as the province surpassed one million doses delivered to residents.

With 31,025 doses administered on Wednesday, the total now sits at 1,024,713, or 12.1 per cent of the population.

Two large shipments of vaccines arrived in the province on Monday and Tuesday, as Quebec prepares to ramp up its vaccine campaign this week, according to Premier Francois Legault's Tuesday announcement.

"Over the next few days we'll be close to 50,000 vaccine doses a day," he said.

Quebec public health authorities also reported 783 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to 304,490.

Over the last seven days, the province added an average of 720 new cases per day.

After 599 people reportedly recovered from the virus on Wednesday, there are now 6,918 known active cases of COVID-19 in Quebec, a net increase of 176.

Eight more people have been reported dead due to the virus. Of those, six died between March 17 to 22, and two before that period.

After a two-day uptick, hospitalizations dropped to 508, a decrease of 11. Of those in hospital, 118 are in intensive care, an increase of five.

Over the past seven days, hospitalizations have dropped by three people per day. The number of intensive-care patients, however, is creeping upwards with an average of two new arrivals daily. 

The province conducted 36,381 COVID-19 tests on March 22. Quebec releases testing data 48 hours after the reported day. 

By midnight on March 22, the province's positivity rate was 2.89 per cent, nudging the seven-day average up to 2.5 per cent.  

REGIONAL BREAKDOWN

Montreal was once again the most affected region, reporting 307 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. In total, 113,574 people have caught the virus in the city. 

Next was Monteregie (110 new, 43,534 total), Laval (75 new, 26,588), and Quebec City (69 new, 23,324 total).

The eight reported deaths occurred in Montreal (five new, 4,603 total), Laval (two new, 884 total), and Abitibi-Témiscamingue (one new, eight total).