In Quebec, health authorities recorded 527 new infections and two more deaths tied to the COVID-19 health crisis on Friday.
The last time the single-day case numbers have been this high was late May. The province’s health minister pointed to a “significant rise” in new infections.
“We are closely monitoring the situation in hospitals, which remains stable for the moment,” Christian Dubé wrote on social media.
The number of pandemic-related hospitalizations dropped by four to 87. This includes 30 people in intensive care, a bump of three in a 24-hour period.
A Quebec government health-care research institute says it expects the number of hospitalizations linked to COVID-19 to rise over the next three weeks, particularly in the Montreal area. But the Institut national d’excellence en santé et services sociaux says it does not expect hospitalizations to exceed dedicated capacity over that time period.
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Meanwhile, the province administered 41,221 doses of the novel coronavirus vaccine since the last update, bringing the total to more than 11.9 million shots over the course of the campaign.
Dubé also reported that 75 per cent of eligible Quebecers aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated. He commended the efforts of the population, but said the battle against the virus is not over.
“Every additional vaccine makes a difference,” he wrote, urging people to continue booking their appointments.
Quebec administered 20,653 tests on Wednesday, the most recent day for which screening information is available.
Over the course of the pandemic, the province has reported a total of 383,718 cases. The health crisis has killed 11,279 Quebecers to date.
The number of recoveries from the virus topped 368,000 as of Friday.
—with files from The Canadian Press
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