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
Police inaction moves to centre of Uvalde shooting probe
The actions — or more notably, the inaction — of a school district police chief and other law enforcement officers have become the centre of the investigation into this week's shocking school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

'What happened to Chelsea?' Vancouver march demands answers in Indigenous woman's death
Around a hundred people gathered at noon Saturday at the empty Vancouver home where Chelsea Poorman’s remains were found late last month to show their support for her family's call for answers and justice.
Putin warns against continued arming of Ukraine; Kremlin claims another city captured
As Russia asserted progress in its goal of seizing the entirety of contested eastern Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin tried Saturday to shake European resolve to punish his country with sanctions and to keep supplying weapons that have supported Ukraine's defence.
Canada to play for gold at men's hockey worlds after victory over Czechia
Canada and Finland won semifinal games Saturday to set up a third straight gold-medal showdown between the teams at the IIHF world hockey championship.
Woman with disabilities approved for medically assisted death relocated thanks to 'inspiring' support
A 31-year-old disabled Toronto woman who was conditionally approved for a medically assisted death after a fruitless bid for safe housing says her life has been 'changed' by an outpouring of support after telling her story.
Calling social conservatives dinosaurs was 'wrong terminology', says Patrick Brown
Federal Conservative leadership candidate Patrick Brown says calling social conservatives 'dinosaurs' in a book he wrote about his time in Ontario politics was 'the wrong terminology.'
48K without power one week after deadly storm swept through Ontario, Quebec
One week after a severe wind and thunderstorm swept through Ontario and Quebec, just over 48,000 homes in the two provinces were still without power on Saturday.
Explainer: Where do hydro poles come from?
The devastating storm in southern Ontario and Quebec last weekend damaged thousands of hydro poles across the two provinces. CTVNews.ca gives a rundown of where utility companies get their hydro poles from, as well as the climate challenges in the grid infrastructure.
Truth tracker: Analyzing the World Economic Forum 'Great Reset' conspiracy theory
The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos was met with justifiable criticisms and unfounded conspiracy theories.