MONTREAL -- As the province enters the first holiday weekend of the so-called third wave, COVID-19 hospitalizations and new cases both rose Friday.
Quebec reported that 1,314 more people have tested positive for COVID-19, the highest number of cases in a single day since Jan. 26 when 1,360 new cases were reported.
The new numbers mean the total number of infections in the province is now 313,676 since the start of the pandemic. Of those, 293,567 people are reported to have recovered from the novel coronavirus, an increase of 919.
The Quebec Institute of Public Health is reporting 390 more active cases for a total of 9,428.
In addition, the province added five new deaths due to COVID-19, including one in the past 24 hours, three between March 26 and March 31, and one before March 26.
Since March 2020, 10,681 people in Quebec have died due to the disease.
Hospitalizations also rose Friday with the province reporting that 16 more people are receiving care for COVID-19 in Quebec hospitals for a total of 503. Of those, 121 people are in intensive care wards, an increase of two.
Health-care professionals in the province administered 48,507 more vaccine doses bringing the total number of vaccinations to 1,440,680, which is 17 per cent of the population.
On March 31, 39,886 samples were analyzed.
REGIONAL DATA
Quebec City continued to see dramatically high numbers reporting 305 new cases (24,703 total), as did Outaouais (143 new, 7,803 total), and Chaudiere-Appalaches (84 new, 12,505 total).
All three regions are now considered in the red zone.
Montreal reported 388 new cases (116,588 total), and Monteregie reported 95 new (44,471 total).
Two deaths were reported in Montreal (4,625 total), and one death was reported in the Eastern Townships (323 total), Chaudiere-Appalaches (290 total), and the Lower Laurentians (485 total).
