MONTREAL -- Quebec reported Sunday that 1,457 more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours bringing the total number of infections to 253,633 since the pandemic began.
It is the first time since Jan. 18 that the number of new cases has been below 1,500, and the seven-day average for daily case increase is now 1,560.
The Quebec Institute of Public Health reports that there are 16,935 active cases in the province.
Of those who tested positive, Quebec reports that 227,215 have recovered from the disease, 1,970 more than on Saturday.
The province also added 41 more deaths due to the disease including 12 that occurred in the past 24 hours, 26 between Jan. 17 and Jan. 22, two before Jan. 17, and one death that occurred at an unknown date.
Since the start of the pandemic, Quebec reports that 9,478 people have died due to the novel coronavirus.
Hospitalizations decreased for a fifth straight day with the province reporting that 56 fewer people are receiving treatment in the province's hospitals for a total of 1,327. Of those, 219 people are in the intensive care ward, an increase of three.
Health-care professionals analyzed 33,719 samples Jan. 22, and have performed 5,646,660 tests since March. (Quebec releases its testing data from two days prior to its daily updates).
Quebec reported that 8,503 vaccines were administered Saturday bringing the total number of vaccinations in the province to 218,755 (2.56 per cent of the population).
REGIONAL DATA
Montreal (580 new, 90,856 total), Monteregie (323 new, 36,412 total) and Laval (122 new, 21,348 total) were the only regions to report triple-digit increases Sunday with all regions except Outaouais (23 new, 5,729 total), Chaudiere-Appalaches (53 new, 10,694 total) and Monteregie reporting fewer new cases Sunday than they did Saturday.
Nunavik reported one new case both days (39 total).
Eleven deaths were reported in Montreal (4,231 total); nine in Quebec City (884 total) and Monteregie (1,268 total); three in Lanaudiere (452 total); two in Chaudiere-Appalaches (236 total) and the Laurentians (414 total); and one death was reported in Bas-Saint-Laurent (29 total), Mauricie-Centre-du-Quebec (431 total), the Eastern Townships (257 total), and Outaouais (150 total).
