One year to the day after Quebec recorded its first confirmed case of COVID-19, the province reported 858 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday.
A total of 287,003 infections have been confirmed in the province since the first one was reported Feb. 27, 2020. And 10,385 people have died from the disease.
Quebec announced Saturday that 13 more fatalities have been attributed to the virus. Five of the deaths occurred in the last 24 hours.
The number of hospitalizations due to the virus stands at 599 patients, a decrease of 21 since Friday. It’s the lowest number of patients in hospital in Quebec since Nov. 15. After hitting a peak of 1,876 hospitalized patients during the height of the first wave in mid-May, that figure dropped to a low of 94 in early September. Since that period, as Quebecers returned to work and school, hospitalizations gradually increased, hitting a high of 1,523 patients in hospital on Jan. 14.
The Legault government instituted a curfew Jan. 9 to decrease the rising number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Initially scheduled to last four weeks, to Feb. 8, it has now been in effect for 49 days and has been extended indefinitely in regions deemed Red zones in the province.
Of those patients still in hospital, 112 are in intensive care — a decrease of seven.
There were 15,902 doses of the vaccine administered on Friday. To date, a total of 418,399 doses have been given out in the province. The province has received 537,825 doses to date.
The rate of daily vaccinations is expected to increase after the government announced Friday it is opening vaccinations to those age 80 and over in the Montreal region.
