MONTREAL -- The number of new COVID-19 cases in Quebec remained high Wednesday though it was below the past week's average case number.

Quebec reported 1,179 new cases Wednesday, which is 93 fewer than the average increase over the past week, which was 1,272. With Wednesday's number, the seven-day average is now 1,243.

Public health officials reported that 127,233 people have now contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

Quebec reported that 35 more people have died due to the disease, and the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic is now 6,710.

In the past 24 hours, eight people died due to the disease in addition to 19 deaths which occurred between Nov. 11 and Nov. 16 and six deaths which occurred before Nov. 11. Two people also died at an unknown date. 

The number of hospitalizations rose by 14, and there are now 652 people receiving treatment in the province's hospitals. Of those, 100 are in the intensive care ward, the same number as Tuesday.

Health-care professionals analyzed 25,165 samples Nov. 16. (Quebec releases its testing data from  two days prior to its daily updates).

Of the total number of cases across the province, 108,625 have recovered from the disease, an increase of 1,299.

The Quebec Institute of Public health reports that there are 11,898 active cases in the province.

REGIONAL DATA

The highest increase in cases was reported in Montreal with 280 new cases (47,415 total), followed by Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean with 167 new cases (3,366 total), Monteregie with 133 new cases (18,209 total), and Lanaudiere with 117 new cases (9,904 total).

With a population of 276,368 (compared with over two million in Montreal) the situation in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean remains a major concern for public health agencies.

Nine deaths were reported in Monteregie (806 total); five in Quebec City (393 total) and Lanaudiere (277 total); three in Chaudiere-Appalaches (110 total) and the Laurentians (327 total); two in Mauricie-et-Centre-du-Quebec (242 total), Montreal (3,579 total), and Outaouais (67 total); and one death was reported in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean (82 total), and Gaspesie-Iles-de-la-Madeleine (37 total).

ACROSS CANADA

 There are 309,077 confirmed cases in Canada and 11,153 deaths.

The latest provincial and territorial numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of noon on Nov. 18, 2020 are as follows:

  • Quebec: 127,233 confirmed (including 6,710 deaths, 108,625 resolved)
  • Ontario: 98,162 confirmed (including 3,415 deaths, 81,925 resolved)
  •  Alberta: 40,962 confirmed (including 432 deaths, 30,462 resolved)
  •  British Columbia: 23,661 confirmed (including 310 deaths, 16,469 resolved)
  •  Manitoba: 11,608 confirmed (including 179 deaths, 4,324 resolved)
  •  Saskatchewan: 5,422 confirmed (including 31 deaths, 3,336 resolved)
  •  Nova Scotia: 1,154 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,065 resolved)
  •  New Brunswick: 379 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 341 resolved)
  •  Newfoundland and Labrador: 305 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 292 resolved)
  •  Nunavut: 70 confirmed
  •  Prince Edward Island: 68 confirmed (including 64 resolved)
  •  Yukon: 25 confirmed (including 1 death, 22 resolved)
  •  Northwest Territories: 15 confirmed (including 10 resolved)
  •  Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)

-- with files from The Canadian Press.