MONTREAL -- The number of COVID-19 vaccines administered in a single day in Quebec surpassed 30,000, while the province reported zero new deaths in the past 24 hours.

The province reported Saturday that 31,527 doses of vaccine were administered bringing the total number of vaccinations in Quebec to 681,487 (eight per cent of the population).

Quebec also added 11 deaths due to the novel coronavirus to the overall total but none in the past 24 hours. It is the first time there were no deaths in a day since Sept. 11.

The province said that seven deaths occurred between March 6 and March 11, and four before March 6. In addition, two deaths were withdrawn from the overall total after an investigation found they were not attributable to COVID-19.

Since the pandemic began, 10,535 people have died due to COVID-19 in Quebec.

Quebec reported Saturday that 789 more people have tested positive for COVID-19 bringing the total number of positive cases in the province to 296,918 since the start of the pandemic. 

Of those, 279,230 are reported to have recovered from the disease, 741 more than on Friday.

The new cases bring the seven-day average for daily cases to 715 per day. 

The Quebec Institute of Public Health is reporting that active COVID-19 cases in the province rose by 25 in the past 24 hours for a total of 7,153.

Hospitalizations in the province rose by one Saturday and there are now 551 people receiving care in Quebec hospitals for COVID-19. Of those, 106 people are in intensive care wards, the same number as Friday.

On March 11, health-care professionals analyzed 26,975 samples. (Quebec releases its testing data from two days prior to its daily updates).

REGIONAL DATA

Of the new cases, Montreal reported the highest increase with 354 new (110,407 total), followed by Laval (84 new, 25,762 total), Monteregie (69 new, 42,711 total), the Laurentians (63 new, 17,071 total), and Lanaudiere (62 new, 20,978 total). 

Three deaths were reported in the Eastern Townships (317 total) and Montreal (4,561 total); and one death was reported in Quebec City (998 total), Mauricie-et-Centre-du-Quebec (507 total), Lanaudiere (496 total), the Laurentians (480 total) and Monteregie (1,494 total).