Quebec marks 1 million COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations rise by 85

Quebec surpasses 1 million positive COVID-19 cases Dr. Donald Vinh talks about Quebec passing 1 million positive COVID-19 cases, as vaccinations remain low.

Quebec reported on Monday that COVID-19 hospitalizations rose by 85 in the last 24 hours and six more people have died as the province surpassed 1,000,000 confirmed positive PCR tests.

The Ministry of Health reported a total of 1,793 hospitalizations after 184 people were admitted to hospital and 99 were discharged in the past day.

ICU cases dropped by two, for a total of 69.

The province also recorded an additional 2,234 cases of the coronavirus from PCR testing, marking a milestone of 1,000,895 total infections since the start of the pandemic. PCR testing is restricted to priority clientele in Quebec, which means the true number of cases is likely much higher than the figures provided by the province.

The ministry also received 1,218 rapid antigen test results, 987 of which were positive.

The positivity rate was 15.9 per cent on Monday and the number of active outbreaks across the province stands at 852. Active cases province-wide dropped to 30,271, a decrease of 850 from the last update.

Six new deaths were recorded, bringing the total to 14,544.

VACCINATION UPDATE

Quebec has opened up fourth doses of the vaccine to people aged 60 and up, in addition to people who are immunocompromised, as well as people living in long-term care homes or private seniors' residences.

Health-care workers administered 13,944 doses in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 18,897,267 doses. An additional 316,845 doses have been given to Quebecers outside of the province.

To date, the province has given out 7,426,070 first doses covering 91 per cent of the eligible population, 7,116,909 second doses covering 87 per cent of the population, and 4,360,877 third doses covering 53 per cent of the population. Figures for fourth doses are not yet published on the government's website.