MONTREAL -- Authorities announced Friday that 297 more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the province since Thursday.

The total number of deaths due to the disease in the province is now 5,792 and there have been 66,653 positive tests.

The Cote-Nord region has reported its first death due to COVID-19. The person was in their 70s according to Quebec's data. It was the only death reported by Quebec public health officials Friday in the government's daily updates.

Officials did not report when the death occurred, but said it did not occur in the past 24 hours. Cote-Nord has reported 144 cases of the novel coronavirus since the start of the pandemic and seven this week.

The Quebec City region saw a spike in infections, adding 86 cases for a total of 2,817. The Island of Montreal reported 58 more cases (31,021 total), Monteregie added 49 (9,848 total), Chaudiere-Appalaches added 21 (852 total), and Laval added 18 (6,603 total).

The number of hospitalizations remained the same Friday with 136 people receiving treatment in the province's hospitals. Of those, the number of people in the intensive care ward increased by one for a total of 30.

Quebec is reporting that 206 more people have recovered for a total of 58,218 or 87 per cent of the total positive cases.

On Sept. 16, health-care professionals analyzed 29,726 samples, which is 5,614 more than analyzed Sept. 15.