Quebec released its final daily report on Thursday to announce its COVID-19 statistics, and will now move to issuing an update on a weekly basis, starting July 2.
The move was announced on Wednesday’s Fête nationale du Québec holiday.
The decision was made because of “the evolving epidemiological situation, which is stabilizing,” said a spokesperson for the Quebec’s health ministry to the Montreal Gazette.
“As soon as there is some important data to share with the population, we will do that,” said Dr. Horacio Arruda, the province’s public health director, suggesting that the daily updates could return in the event of a second wave of infections.
On Thursday, health officials announced 142 new cases of COVID-19 in its latest 24-hour stretch. Seven deaths were also reported, one of which occurred before June 17, increasing the death toll to 5,448.
The recent update breaks its four-day streak of reporting fewer than 100 new patients. But it’s also the eighteen straight day that Quebec has reported fewer than 200 patients. Before the recent stretch, it had not been under 200 since mid-March, when the province was still only announcing cases that had been confirmed twice.
Of Quebec’s 55,079 total cases, 76 more people have recovered, for a total of 23,786.
There are now 487 people in hospital, down by 13 since Wednesday. That includes 50 people in intensive care (down by two).
Quebec’s testing numbers are reflective of its outputs two days prior. In its latest 24-hour stretch, it completed 7 917 tests for COVID-19, which is below its goal of 14,000.
