Quebec reported 960 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday as the province announced people aged 30 and over can now book their vaccines.
This marks the seventh consecutive day that the daily tally of new infections has been under 1,000 as the province deals with the third wave of the pandemic.
Six more virus-related deaths were reported, one of which occurred in the last 24 hours. The others were retroactively reported from before May 7. The death toll now stands at 10,987.
Hospitalizations continued to decline for a fifth straight day by eight to 539, with 124 people in the ICU, a decrease of six.
Health officials say almost 42 per cent of Quebec’s population has received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The minimum age requirement to book the COVID-19 vaccine will continue to gradually drop over the next week to include all adults in Quebec, health officials have said.
The immunization rollout will then expand to include children above the age of 12.
There were 76,166 vaccine doses were added to the total of over 3.7 million doses since the beginning of the province’s vaccination rollout in December.
Of the 76,166 doses added, 74,694 were administered on Saturday and 1,472 were counted from before May 8.
The latest update comes as the Quebec City and Outaouais regions prepare to reopen high schools and non-essential stores on Monday.
The Quebec government announced last week it would lift special lockdown measures in those parts of the province, which includes pushing the nightly curfew from 8 p.m. to 9:30.
On Saturday the province announced the Eastern Townships region will see its alert level rise from orange to red on Monday, resulting in tighter restrictions after its case numbers jumped in the last week.
Quebec has reported more than 358,134 COVID-19 infections since the pandemic hit the province. At least 338,628 cases have recovered.
