MONTREAL -- Quebec reported 1,513 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday as it reached a new milestone: 25 per cent of the population has received a first dose of the vaccine.

The province also marked the 16th day in a row that new daily cases exceeded 1,000, with 15 new deaths recorded due to the coronavirus. There have been a total of 10,778 deaths in Quebec since the start of the pandemic.

Four deaths were in the last 24 hours, nine were from April 8 to 13, and two were from an unknown date.

The province inoculated one quarter of the population after administering 67,708 doses of the vaccine in the last 24 hours. Quebec has administered 2,145,925 out of a total of 2,828,685 received doses. 

The Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) stated there are now 14,018 active cases in the province and 307,748 people have recovered from the virus, an increase of 1,140.

Hospitalizations remain high at 661, with an increase of one since the day before. Seven new patients are now in ICU fighting the virus, for a total of 159.

Health-care professionals in the province analyzed 42,694 samples April 13. (Quebec releases its testing data from two days prior to its daily updates).

There are 2,476 confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants in Quebec, an increase of 862.

The total number of people who have tested positive since March 2020 is now 332,544, according to provincial fiigures. 

REGIONAL BREAKDOWN

Montreal once again saw the highest increase in new cases in Quebec with 390 new cases. Other regions that saw triple-digit increase include Capitale-Nationale (273), the Outaouais (167), and Chaudiere-Appalaches (191).

Most of the new deaths recorded were in hot spots: Capitale-Nationale (3 new, 1,044 total), Montreal (3 new, 4,650 total), and Outaouais (3 new, 183 total). Other regions saw an increase in deaths, including Laval (2 new, 893 total), Laurentians (2 new, 495 total), and Monteregie (1 new, 1,520).