In a written release, Quebec health officials announced 117 more deaths and 723 new cases of COVID-19.
It’s unclear at this point if all 117 victims passed away in the same 24-hour timeframe. It’s the first day that Premier François Legault, or a representative member of his Quebec government, didn’t hold a televised conference since the start of the outbreak.
The updates increase the province’s death toll to 805, and its total case count to 17,521. Among those patients, there are 3,315 people who have recovered from the virus, while 1,130 people are in hospital and 258 in intensive care, an increase of 51 since yesterday.
Montreal, the province’s epicentre, now has 8,052 cases of COVID-19, an increase of 262 since yesterday. The Laval, Lanaudière and Montérégie regions have also reported over 1,000 cases.
When Quebec initially released its modelling data scenarios, they predicted that April 18 was going to mark the peak of the first wave of COVID-19 infections in the province. They estimated between 1,263 and 9,000 deaths and 29,000 cases of the respiratory virus.