Quebec active COVID-19 cases back up to 5,000; 571 new infections, hospitalizations stable

Montreal -

Quebec reported 571 new COVID-19 cases on Friday and one new death, as active cases hover just below 5,000.

Despite higher numbers in the last week, and a rise in active cases, hospitalizations continue to be stable or to go down slightly.

That remained the case Friday: there was a net decrease of one regular hospitalizaton for the virus, and a net decrease of six ICU patients.

Overall, there are 240 people hospitalized in Quebec with the virus, and 57 in intensive care.

The risk of landing in hospital is 18 times higher for the unvaccinated, provincial statistics show. In the last 28 days, 258 unvaccinated people were hospitalized, and 172 vaccinated people.

When you take into account how many more Quebecers are vaccinated -- 87 per cent of the eligible population has both doses -- the unvaccinated are vastly overrepresented in hospitals.

The last 24 hours saw a little bump in vaccinations, with 16,115 new shots delivered. The bump, however, comes not from the unvaccinated getting shots, but from the new campaign to give the elderly booster shots.

Nearly 5,000 Quebecers over 80 got shots, presumably nearly all of them boosters, in today's data.

Active cases, which have risen by big jumps this week, continued to rise in the last 24 hours and now just a few shy of 5,000, at 4,996.

There have been a total of 11,511 deaths due to the virus in Quebec.

REGIONAL BREAKDOWN

Nunavik is grapping with an active case rate more than 10 times higher than any region, with about one in 70 people in the region currently infected.

Chaudiere-Appalaches has a rate of 107 infections per 100,000 population. The Eastern Townships shot up enough in the last 24 hours to be the third most affected region in the province, at 93 cases per 100,000, which is slightly higher than Laval.

Montreal is next with a rate of 68.

 

COVID-19 CASES IN QUEBEC
Infogram