MONTREAL -- Quebec reported Saturday that 9,999 people have now died in the province due to COVID-19 after 27 deaths were added and one subtracted to the overall total.

The province said that one death was removed from the total as it was found to not be attributable to the novel coronavirus. Of the 27 new deaths, nine were reported to have occurred in the past 24 hours, 16 between Jan. 30 and Feb. 4, and two at an unknown date. 

The province added 1,204 new positive COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours bringing the total number of cases in the province since the start of the pandemic to 268,977.

Of those, 246,695 are reported to have recovered from the disease, 1,356 more than on Friday. 

The new case numbers are the highest in a week, and above the seven-day average, which is now 1,088 new cases per day. 

The Quebec Institute of Public Health is reporting that there are now 12,283 active COVID-19 cases in the province.

Hospitalizations continue to drop in the province with Quebec reporting 58 fewer patients are receiving care in the province's hospitals for a total of 982. Of those, 159 people are in the intensive care ward, a decrease of nine.

Quebec health-care professionals analyzed 33,710 Feb. 4.

On Friday, the province administered 4,373 doses of vaccine bringing the total number of vaccinations to 253,904.