Quebec is reporting 1,133 new cases of the novel coronavirus Friday as the province continues to try and crack the plateau in its daily tally of infections.
There were 25 additional deaths attributable to COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Five of those fatalities occurred in the last 24 hours.
The province’s caseload stands at 112,189, while recoveries have topped 95,000. Since March, there have been 6,403 deaths.
Health Minister Christian Dubé took to social media to ask citizens to continue abiding by public health measures.
“As the weekend approaches, I invite all Quebecers to be extra careful and to maintain their efforts to reduce contact,” he said. “We need everyone’s co-operation to bring down the number of cases.”
Hospitalizations rose by one to 539. Of those patients, the number in intensive care dropped by five to 77.
Authorities say 28,807 tests were conducted Wednesday, the latest day for which testing data is available. There have been 3,245,870 tests to date.
A Quebec public health institute says it doesn’t expect the number of new COVID-19 cases in the province to exceed the capacity of the province’s hospitals over the next four weeks.
The National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services says it is worried, however, that the situation outside of the Montreal area could change.
The announcement comes after Quebec Premier François Legault said Thursday that he is concerned about the rise in cases in Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean and the northern part of Lanaudière.
He also said he had no intention of scaling back shutdowns in areas on the highest alert, including Montreal and Quebec City.
Legault said the number of new cases of the virus remains too high to lift the measures in place, including the closure of dining rooms and gyms.
Restrictions aimed to slow the spread of the virus in designated red zones are in effect until at least Nov. 23.
— With files from the Canadian Press
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