Quebec adds 85 new deaths related to COVID-19; hospitalizations down by 21
Quebec is reporting 85 new deaths related to COVID-19 on Tuesday as hospitalizations dropped again, with 21 fewer patients receiving care than 24 hours ago.
The total number of deaths in Quebec is now 12,936.
Hospitalizations reached a total of 3,278 after 272 people were admitted and 293 people were discharged since Monday.
Meanwhile, the number of people in intensive care remained the same on Tuesday with 263 patients in the ICU.
At a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Quebec Premier François Legault announced some public health measures will be lifted as of Monday, such as the reopening of indoor dining in restaurants at half-capacity.
The province says unvaccinated people are 5.7 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 and 11.6 times more likely to be sent to the ICU than vaccinated people based on the last four weeks of data.
Active cases in the province also dropped by 1,647 in the past day, for a total 45,436 cases.
The latest update from Quebec shows there were 2,977 new COVID-19 cases reported on Tuesday, however, that number is not a true reflection of the daily cases since PCR testing is not open to the general public in Quebec. Results from rapid antigen tests are also not included in provincial data.
Health-care workers analyzed 22,818 samples on Jan. 23.
Since the start of the pandemic, Quebec has reported 841,414 cases of the coronavirus, while 783,042 people have recovered.
VACCINATION CAMPAIGN
The province administered 86,488 new vaccine doses into people’s arms in the last 24 hours, for a total of 17,251,891 doses given in Quebec. An additional 269,266 doses were given to Quebecers outside of the province.
The vast majority of the shots given out in the last 24 hours (70,422 doses) were booster shots.
To date, health-care workers have administered 7,356,226 first doses (covering 90 per cent of the eligible population), 6,781,785 second doses (covering 83 per cent of the eligible population), and 3,313,198 third doses (covering 41 per cent of the eligible population).
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
200 bodies found in Mariupol as war rages in Ukraine's east
Workers digging through rubble found 200 bodies in Mariupol, Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday, another grim discovery in the ruined port city that has seen some of the worst suffering of the 3-month-old war.

EXCLUSIVE | Supreme Court Justice Mahmud Jamal on his journey to Canada’s highest court
Justice Mahmud Jamal sat down with CTV National News' Omar Sachedina for an exclusive interview ahead of the one-year anniversary of his appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada. Jamal is the first person of colour to sit on the highest court in the country, bringing it closer to reflecting the diversity of Canada.
Death toll from Saturday's storm hits 10 across Ontario and Quebec
As the death toll related to the powerful storm that swept Ontario and Quebec on Saturday reached 10 on Monday, some of the hardest-hit communities were still working to take stock of the damage.
Trudeau faces chants, pounding drums as he walks through crowd at Kamloops memorial
The prime minister made comments following a memorial gathering in Kamloops to mark one year since the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc Nation announced the remains of up to 215 children were detected at a former school site.
Conservative party ends its investigation into complaint about a racist email
The Conservative Party of Canada says its ended its investigation into a racist email sent to leadership contender Patrick Brown's campaign team after the party member purportedly behind it resigned their membership.
Walk out at trade meeting when Russia spoke 'not one-off,' says trade minister
The United States and four other nations that walked out of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group meeting in Bangkok over the weekend underlined their support Monday for host nation Thailand, saying their protest was aimed solely at Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.
Canadian study finds link between air pollution and severity of COVID-19 infection
An extensive study of thousands of COVID-19 patients in Ontario hospitals found links between the severity of their infections and the levels of common air pollutants they experience.
After 3 months of war, life in Russia has profoundly changed
Three months after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, many ordinary Russians are reeling from those blows to their livelihoods and emotions. Moscow's vast shopping malls have turned into eerie expanses of shuttered storefronts once occupied by Western retailers.
China's bet on homegrown mRNA vaccines holds back nation
China is trying to navigate its biggest coronavirus outbreak without a tool it could have adopted many months ago, the kind of vaccines that have proven to offer the best protection against the worst outcomes from COVID-19.