Quebec is reporting 1,014 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, and nine more coronavirus-related deaths.
Health officials say hospitalizations continued to declined for a fourth straight day by eight to 654, and 165 people are in intensive care — a decrease of 16 from Saturday.
Authorities say of the nine deaths, six occurred in the last 24 hours. Quebec’s death toll now stands at 10,878.
Health Minister Christian Dubé said on Saturday that 60 per cent of the new cases are people under 40.
“We know young adults are sick for longer and wait longer before going to hospital,” he wrote in a post on Twitter. “No one is safe from the virus and its variants.”
On Sunday Dubé wrote on Twitter that the situation remains fragile but there’s hope on the horizon — reminding Quebecers that the province will open up vaccines to the general population at the end of May.
He encouraged people to keep up protective efforts in the coming weeks.
Public health says 63,763 doses of the vaccine were administered on Saturday, and 1,186 were added to the toll from before April 24, for a total of 2,828,484 since the beginning of the vaccination rollout in the province.
At least one dose of the vaccine has been given to almost 33 per cent of the province’s population, according to officials.
Quebec has reported more than 344,808 infections since the pandemic hit the province. At least 323,086 cases have recovered.
