Quebec reported 2,038 new COVID-19 cases and 44 additional deaths linked to the novel coronavirus on Saturday.
This comes one day after health officials asked the public to avoid emergency rooms unless “really necessary” as hospitalizations linked to COVID-19 had risen by 50 per cent in the past three weeks and health-care workers said there has been “unbelievable” demand on the system.
The province’s public health department said six fewer people were listed in hospital on Saturday for a total of 1,005, with one more intensive-care case for a total of 142.
Of the 44 deaths, two were reported in the last 24 hours while the 39 others fell between Dec. 12 and Dec. 17.
READ MORE: Don’t go to Quebec ERs unless necessary as coronavirus hospitalizations climb, health minister warns
Health Minister Christian Dubé said the province crossed a line by topping more than 1,000 patients in hospitals to be treated for COVID-19 this week. Dubé said some hospitals are setting up beds in “non-traditional locations” like hotels.
There are 10 hospitals in Quebec — including the Lakeshore General and Verdun hospitals in Montreal — that are currently on the verge of overflowing, he added.
Montreal reported the most cases with 625, followed by the Montérégie region south of the city with 349 infections and the Quebec City region with 219 cases.
Six other regions in the province reported more than 100 infections. The province has 17,879 active cases.
“The cases continue to increase,” Dubé wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “We all have a role to play in making cases go down: we must limit our contacts.”
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Quebec has had 174,839 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 7,715 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
An additional 1,847 are considered recovered for a total of 149,245 resolved cases.
The province has ramped up testing, conducting a record 42,136 tests on Thursday, the last day for which figures were available.
Authorities say 715 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered on Friday and 4,020 long-term care residents and health workers have received the first of two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine since Monday.
The province plans to open up 21 more sites as of Monday and is stepping up vaccinations as more doses are delivered.
–With files from the Canadian Press and Kalina Laframboise, Global News
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