MONTREAL -- The COVID-19 pandemic has had an effect on emergency rooms in Quebec, according to the province's health repertoire.

Index Santé’s statement, which analyzes wait times in Quebec emergency rooms based on the number of patients using a stretcher in comparison to stretcher occupancy rates, notes that numbers are down compared to usual.

Barely three of the 21 emergency rooms on the island of Montreal currently have a stretcher occupancy rate of more than 100 per cent: the Santa Cabrini Hospital, the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital. 

The average emergency occupancy rate in Montreal as a whole is 71 per cent. 

In other regions where emergency rooms are usually very busy, rates are also down. As of Monday, they were at 81 per cent in Lanaudière, 73 per cent in Laval and Montérégie, 68 per cent in Mauricie, 63 per cent in the Laurentians and Chaudière-Appalaches and 53 per cent in the Quebec region.

The provincial average stands at 61 per cent, according to Index Santé, which has been the trend for the past 10 days. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2020.