Quebec reports highest daily COVID-19 count ever with more than 3,700 new infections
Quebec reported 3,768 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, its highest ever daily case count, a day after Premier François Legault warned the new numbers would be around that level and announced a slew of new public health restrictions.
The previous record, according to the adjusted numbers posted by the Quebec Institute of Public Health, was Jan. 6, with 2,880 cases.
Hospitalizations due to the disease increased by seven, and there were also seven more deaths. The positivity rate among COVID-19 tests now stands at 7.4 per cent.
More than half of the new cases (2,356) were found in people who had been double-vaccinated more than seven days prior.
Another 124 were found in those who had gotten one dose more than seven days prior, while 1,288 people who tested positive were unvaccinated or gotten one dose less than two weeks prior.
In Quebec, 6,638,245 people have received both vaccine doses, according to the Health Ministry, out of a total population of 8,435,737.
There are 1,307 active COVID-19 outbreaks and19,558 active COVID-19 cases in total, an increase of 2,158 from 24 hours ago.
Since the pandemic began, 478,246 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, inluding 447,054 people reported to have recovered.
The total number of COVID-19 deaths in Quebec is now 11,634.
HOSPITALIZATIONS INCREASE
There are now 312 patients receiving care in Quebec hospitals after 39 people checked in for care and 32 were discharged.
Of the new patients, 21 were unvaccinated and 18 had received both doses of vaccine more than seven days prior.
The number of patients in intensive care wards decreased by one, dropping that total to 62.
VACCINATION CAMPAIGN
The daily vaccine rate continues to rise, with health-care professionals in Quebec administering 58,507 more doses according to the daily report, including 56,097 in the past 24 hours.
In that 24 hours, over 22,000 Quebecers 70 and over got their booster shots. More than half a million Quebecers have now gotten boosters, or seven per cent of the total population.
As of today, 88 per cent of Quebecers have received one dose and 81 per cent have both doses.
VARIANT TRACKER
On Friday, the INSPQ said there are 13 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant and 180 new presumptive cases (309 total).
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