MONTREAL -- Quebec added 1,631 new cases of COVID-19 and 88 deaths on Friday. 

The province says there was a late transfer of reported deaths, making today’s total higher than usual.

Out of those 88 deaths, 18 occurred in the last 24 hours, 33 between Jan. 15 and Jan. 20, another 33 before Jan. 15, and four happened at an unknown date.

Recoveries outnumbered new cases, with 2,040 more people reportedly virus-free on Friday.  

Since March, 250,491 people have become infected with COVID-19, of which 223,367 have now recovered.

Hospitalizations dropped by 27, for a total of 1,426 people in care. Of those, the number of people in intensive care dropped by four, for a total of 212. 

VACCINES

Since the last report on Thursday, the province administered 17,417 doses of the vaccine, for a total of 200,627. 

2.3 per cent of people in Quebec have now received a dose. 

During the last 7 days (since Jan. 15), 73,554 people have gotten a shot, for a daily average of 10,508.

TESTING

The province conducted 40,738 tests on Jan. 20, of which 1,624 found positive results. This represents a positivity rate of 3.9 per cent. 

Quebec releases its testing data two days after the reported date.  

REGIONAL BREAKDOWN

Montreal was the most affected region, reporting 681 new cases, up from 679 on Thursday. Since March, Montreal has reported a total of 89,607 infections.  

Next in line was Monteregie, adding 276 cases, for a total of 35,778, then Laval (128 new, 21,087 total), the Laurentians (98 new, 13,712 total), Lanaudiere (97 new, 17,959 total), and Quebec City (90 new, 20,830 total).