As the second wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic continues, Quebec Premier François Legault says the situation is mostly stable in the province over the last five weeks but there is an uptick in cases in two regions.
There are concerns about the progression of the virus in Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean and the northern part of Lanaudière.
Legault said Tuesday the situation has improved in Quebec City while Montreal is stable at the moment, despite a high number of infections.
“So, we are averaging around 1,000 new cases every day,” Legault said. “On the other hand, when we dissect the regions one by one, we see that in some places there are big improvements, but in some places, in other places, there is deterioration.”
Despite a spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations on Tuesday, Legault said the province’s health network has been able to withstand the second wave so far but that doesn’t make it immune from a “tsunami of hospitalizations.”
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He also encouraged Quebecers to keep abiding by public health directives — especially those in regions where the virus is quickly progressing.
“Our situation continues to be better than in Europe and in the United States and I thank you all for that,” he said. “But we must do better.”
Legault’s update comes as Quebec’s COVID-19 caseload stands at 108,889 after 871 new infections were reported Tuesday. There have been 93,316 recoveries to date.
The province recorded 34 additional deaths linked to the health crisis. Five of them occurred in the last 24 hours.
Health authorities say 25 newly attributed deaths took place between Oct. 27 and Nov. 1, while four others occurred before Oct. 27.
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The death toll has reached 6,317 as of Tuesday. It is the largest death count linked to the pandemic in the country.
The number of hospitalizations spiked by 27 to 526. Of those patients, 85 are in intensive care, an increase of four from the previous day.
Health authorities say 15,512 tests were conducted on Sunday, the latest day for which that information is available. So far, 3,169,438 tests have been conducted in the province.
‘November will be difficult’
As the cold weather sets in and with winter on the horizon, Legault said he knows “November will be difficult.”
“But Quebecers know one thing, we know that the days will eventually get longer, and that winter will pass,” he said. “So we will continue to help each other get through this together.”
The province announced Monday it was investing $100 million in mental health initiatives, with officials specifically pointing to how hard the pandemic and lockdowns have been on Quebecers in the last few months.
Health Minister Christian Dubé said that, unfortunately, he thinks everyone must learn to live with the virus for now.
This means keeping a two-metre distance and wearing masks when needed, he said, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be room for improvement. He cited allowing Halloween to take place as an example of a “gift” and a way to do things differently during the pandemic.
“I think this is there to stay for a while,” he said. “And we need to be prepared mentally for that.”
— With files from the Canadian Press
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