Quebec is seeing a drop in hospitalizations related to COVID-19 but officials caution the arrival of new variants could derail progress to get the pandemic under control.
Health Minister Christian Dubé says the hospital numbers — which dipped below 900 Thursday — are “very, very good news.”
While he credited the government’s stricter lockdown measures for the improvement and pointed to a decline of new cases, Dubé also voiced concerns about the potential spread of variants.
“The trend is fragile and the arrival of new variants can quickly change that situation,” he told reporters at the provincial legislature.
Montreal public health director Dr. Mylène Drouin told reporters Wednesday that new infections involving the variants may be circulating undetected.
READ MORE: Coronavirus crisis improving in Montreal, but public health worried about variant cases
There are currently 48 confirmed or suspected cases of new variants in the Montreal area and three confirmed cases elsewhere in the province, public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda said.
But Arruda said it’s “illogical to think” that Quebec has detected all the cases of new variants in the province.
Dubé says the presence of new variants is why the province is ramping up screening in Montreal, in hopes of detecting those cases and limiting their spread — so as to to not undo the improvements made in Quebec, which has been hard hit by health crisis.
“The uncertainty lies with the variants,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Premier François Legault said Quebec may have detected fewer cases of novel coronavirus variants than other provinces because it has fewer links to the United Kingdom. He defended his government’s progress on testing for new and allegedly more contagious variants after opposition parties said Quebec is falling behind.
Quebec reported 1,121 new cases and 37 additional deaths, including eight in the past 24 hours, attributable to the virus Thursday.
The province’s caseload has reached 273,847 while recoveries now top 252,000. The health crisis has led to the deaths of 10,149 Quebecers since last March.
The number of hospitalizations related to the virus continued to drop Thursday. There are 874 patients in hospital, a drop of 44 from the previous day. Of them, five fewer patients are in intensive care units for a total of 143.
Health authorities say 32,207 tests were conducted Tuesday, the latest day for which screening information is available. So far, more than 6.1 million tests have been administered.
However, officials continued to stress Thursday that anyone who has even a mild symptom associated with COVID-19 needs to be tested as soon as possible.
The best way to stop spread of the virus is to get tested and to limit contact with others, Dubé said.
“I would like to remind the population we must continue our efforts,” he said.
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Family bubbles during March break
With an upcoming school break, the public is being asked to only spend time with the people they live with in order not to trigger a resurgence in cases.
“What is going to be the most important during spring break is that the family bubbles are respected,” Legault said.
The Quebec government is not ruling out additional restrictions during that time, including roadblocks with the Ontario border.
Yet, Legault stressed that limiting contact is even more beneficial than setting up police checkpoints to curb non-essential travel between regions and provinces.
“It’s something that we are looking at,” he said.
More vaccinations in Montreal
Quebec’s inoculation campaign saw 5,409 doses given Wednesday. Since December, a total of 272,332 vaccines have been administered.
The vaccination rollout has mostly focused on residents in long-term care homes and health-care employees but Dubé says now the province is focusing on its next priority group: the elderly who live in seniors’ residences (RPAs).
“The good news is we’re targeting our RPAs,” he said.
As the shipments of deliveries of the vaccine pick up again, the health minister said the government will increase inoculation measures in hard-hit Montreal.
READ MORE: Despite vaccine rollout headaches, feds expect campaign to scale up soon
— With files from The Canadian Press
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