Quebec reports lowest COVID-19 increase in nearly 160 days

Quebec public health has reported the province’s lowest daily COVID-19 increase in 159 days.

The Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux has added 613 COVID-19 cases within the last 24 hours, the lowest daily increase in the province since September 23, when 582 new cases were announced.

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Public health has also added six new deaths to the provincial total, one of which occurred over the past day. Three deaths were attributed to dates between February 22 and 27 and two were from earlier in February.

The number of hospitalizations increased by 11 compared to Monday, for a cumulative total of 612 across Quebec. Among these, the number of people in intensive care increased by five for a total of 122.

Since Sunday morning, 6,308 doses of vaccine were administered for a total of 438,815 across the province.

There are now 288,353 COVID-19 cases across the province, 270,364 recoveries, 10,399 deaths, and 2,769,211 negative tests.

Last week, Premier François Legault said Quebec would begin giving the COVID-19 vaccine to the general public.

Legault said in a few weeks, all vulnerable people will be vaccinated across the province and said that while encouraging, it will “take some weeks before the vaccine has its full impact.”

Santé Quebec advises residents to “frequently wash” their hands (for 20 seconds with soap and water), use alcohol-based disinfectant, respect the measures regarding private gatherings, and limit travel as much as possible.

The distribution of deaths in Quebec by age group is as follows:

The distribution of provincial cases per age group is as follows:

Canada’s COVID-19 death toll is now 21,994, along with 866,503 total cases.