Premier François Legault announced 143 more fatalities related to COVID-19, increasing Quebec’s death toll to 630.
Not all of the victims died in the last 24 hours, instead the large spike in fatalities is also the result of a change in methodology by Quebec health officials, Legault said.
It’s unclear at this point who the 143 victims are.
Shortly before the 1 p.m. press conference by Quebec officials, Cogeco News reported the province recorded its first death among doctors, a 44-year-old community health specialist in the Montérégie region.
Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s public health director, said the individual was a specialist who wasn’t treating patients, therefore the reason for transmission did not occur in the health-care system.
“It tells us we are all vulnerable, and it’s important to respect the rules,” Arruda said in a press conference.
Along with the fatalities, 997 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified, bringing Quebec’s total case count to 15,857. Among those diagnoses, there are 1,018 people in hospital and 209 in intensive care, which is a decrease of nine since Wednesday.
Among the total cases, there are now 2,841 people who have recovered from the virus.
Montreal continues to be Quebec’s epicentre with 7,281 cases of COVID-19. The Montérégie, Lanaudière and Laval regions have also recorded 1,000 diagnoses.
As of April 16, health officials have seen 132,714 negative tests for COVID-19 to go along with their positive cases.
