Quebec reports 648 more COVID-19 cases in past 24 hours and five more deaths

People take in the sun on a warm day while looking over the city of Montreal, on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

MONTREAL — New COVID-19 cases, deaths due to the disease, and hospitalizations were all lower Sunday than Saturday, as the second wave of the pandemic continues in Quebec.

Quebec reported 648 more people have tested positive for the virus bringing the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to 302,339.

It is the lowest number of new cases in five days and the seven-day average for daily cases increase is now 678.

Of the total cases, 284,940 are reported to have recovered from the disease, an increase of 737.

The number of active COVID-19 cases reported by the Quebec Institute of Public health dropped by 84 Sunday, and there are now 6,800 active cases in the province, the INSPQ says. That is the lowest number of active cases since the end of Sept. 2020.

The province also added five new deaths Sunday including three in the past 24 hours and two between March 14 and March 19.

Since the start of the pandemic, Quebec has reported 10,599 deaths due to COVID-19.

Hospitalizations decreased by four patients Sunday and there are now 501 people in Quebec receiving care for COVID-19. Of those, 102 people are in intensive care wards in the province, an increase of three.

After breaking the record for single-day vaccinations, Quebec reported that 28,543 more doses of vaccine were administered bringing the total number to 944,793, which is 11.1 per cent of the province's population.

On March 19, health-care professionals analyzed 27,491 samples. (Quebec releases its sampling data from two days prior to its daily updates).

On Twitter, Health Minister Christian Dube called the statistics from the past week "encouraging," but called on Quebecers to remain vigilant.

REGIONAL DATA

Just two regions in the province - Outaouais (53 new, 6,880 total) and Abitibi-Temiscamingue (eight new, 912 total) - reported higher numbers of cases on Sunday than they did on Saturday.

Montreal (264 new, 112,707 total), Laval (65 new, 26,337 total) and Monteregie (64 new, 43,269 total) reported the highest numbers of new cases.

Two deaths were reported in Quebec City (1,005 total) and Montreal (4,591 total) and one was reported in Lanaudiere (500 total).