MONTREAL -- For the second day in a row, Quebec reported the lowest daily increase of COVID-19 cases since late October, adding 826 new infections on Tuesday.

The province also reported 32 new deaths, for a total of 10,078.

Among those 32 deaths, five occurred in the last 24 hours, 22 between Feb. 2 and 7, four before Feb. 2 and one happened at an unknown date.

Hospitalizations decreased by 29 compared to the previous day, for a cumulative total of 940. Among those, the number of people in intensive care decreased by 15, for a total of 145.

Recoveries outnumbered new cases, with 1,291 people reportedly virus-free on Tuesday. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 271,737 people have become infected, and 250,652 have recovered. There are now 11,007 known active coronavirus cases in Quebec.  

VACCINES

On Monday, 2,816 doses of vaccine were administered, for a total of 262,594. To date, the province has received 294,825 doses.

TESTING

Quebec conducted 18,512 tests on Feb. 7, returning 853 positive results. This represents a positivity rate of 4.6 per cent. 

REGIONAL BREAKDOWN

Montreal was once again the most affected region, reporting an increase of 381 new cases, for a total of 98,769 since March. 

After Montreal, Monteregie reported 126 new cases, for a total of 39,606, then Laval (67 new, 23,036 total), Lanaudiere (50 new, 19,173 total), the Laurentians (42 new, 15,174 total), and Chaudiere-Appalaches (42 new, 11,342 total).

On Tuesday, Quebec began reporting daily updates on the spread of variant cases in the province.

Three coronavirus varients have appeared in Quebec, and there are 11 known variant cases in the province. 

Montreal has recorded seven cases of the UK variant, with one other case under investigation. The Eastern townships have recorded one UK variant case. Abitibi-Témiscamingue has reported two cases of the South African variant.