Quebec to start flu vaccination campaign, as COVID-19 hospitalizations rise by dozens

Quebec's director of public health Dr. Luc Boileau updated the province on the evolution of the COVID-19 situation in Quebec on Thursday.

He was accompanied by Daniel Desharnais, Assistant Deputy Minister of the Direction générale de la coordination réseau et ministérielle et des affaires institutionnelles of the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux.

Boileau asked Quebecers to get a flu vaccine at the same time as the COVID-19 vaccine, as cases are on the rise. The influenza vaccination campaign will begin Oct. 5.

He said it's "too early" to begin talking about an eighth wave of the pandemic, but admitted that hospitalizations due to the disease are rising and SARS-CoV-2 concentrations are showing up in wastewater more.

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NEW NUMBERS

Quebec reported on Thursday that eight more people died due to the disease, bringing the total number of deaths in the province to 16,770 since the start of the pandemic. 

Hospitalizations rose by a net total of 44 to 1,663, with 34 of those people in intensive care units, the same number as on Wednesday. 

A total of 3,861 health-care workers are absent for COVID-19-related reasons, which is one more than 24 hours ago. 

Out of 11,836 PCR tests that were analyzed, 1,037 came back positive for a positivity rate of 9 per cent. 

Since the pandemic began, Quebec has logged 1,199,868 positive PCR tests. 

In addition, 170 more positive self-declared rapid tests were recorded, for a total of 245,035.

Quebec's Health Ministry is monitoring 248 active COVID-19 outbreaks.

On Sept. 27, 12,669 samples were analyzed.

Health-care professionals administered 24,986 more vaccinations, bringing that total to 21,242,658.

 

COVID-19 CASES IN QUEBEC
Infogram

With files from the Canadian Press.