MONTREAL -- Quebec is reporting 1,609 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, the largest daily increase in weeks.
The spike was especially pronounced in Quebec City, which posted the province's highest daily case count, higher even than Montreal, which has more than three times Quebec City's population.
Overall, there are now 11,452 known active coronavirus cases in Quebec after 943 were reportedly newly virus-free on Thursday.
Nine more people have been reported dead due to the virus. Of those people, one died in the last 24 hours, seven between April 1 to 6, and another before that period.
Hospitalizations jumped by more than 20 for the second day in a row, with 566 people receiving care, an increase of 23. Of those, nine are in the intensive care unit (ICU).
Over the last seven days, hospitalizations have increased by 11 people each day, on average. ICU cases have crept up at an average rate of two new people per day.
The total number of people infected since the beginning of the pandemic is now 319,802. Of those, 299,241 people have recovered.
- Complete coverage at CTVNews.ca/coronavirus
- Coronavirus newsletter sign-up: Get The COVID-19 Brief sent to your inbox
The province administered 47,769 doses of vaccine, for a total of 1,685,046.
Quebec has received more than 2.3 million doses of the Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca vaccines combined. On Friday, the province is expected to get 71,600 more AstraZeneca vaccines to add to its stock.
Health-care professionals conducted 45,901 coronavirus tests on April 6 (the province releases its testing data 48 hours after the reported day).
The rolling seven-day average positivity rate is now 3.9 per cent.
REGIONAL BREAKDOWN
In Quebec City's very unusual development, the city surpassed Montreal today as the province's virus epicentre, at least in terms of new daily cases.
The capital reported 436 new cases on Thursday, for a total of 26,410 since the start of the pandemic.
Montreal, on the other hand, reported 370 new infections, for a total of 118,568 since March 2020.
Next was Chaudière-Appalaches (179 new, 13,245 total), Outaouais (165 new, 8,593 total), and Monteregie (134 new, 45,187 total)
Of the nine reported deaths, five occured in Montreal (4,634 total), three in Quebec City (1,027 total), and one in Bas-Saint-Laurent (33 total).
