Quebec reports 982 new COVID cases, 24 deaths and biggest second-wave jump in hospitalizations with 47

Hints at Christmas COVID plan The Quebec government gave some hints at a Christmas COVID-19 plan, including that small gatherings are likely to be allowed.

Montreal — Quebec reported 982 new positive COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 126,054 since the start of the pandemic.

It's the first time in a week that Quebec's single-day increase in cases has fallen below 1,200. The province's rolling seven-day average of new daily cases is now 1,272.

Some other news wasn't as positive.

Provincial public health authorities also reported 24 more deaths: they said five people died due to the disease in the past 24 hours, while 18 died between Nov. 10 and 15, and one additional person died of the disease before Nov. 10.

The total number of people who have died due to COVID-19 in Quebec since the start of the pandemic is now 6,675.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients jumped by 47 from the previous day -- the biggest single-day increase in hospitalizations in the second wave, according to historical charts provided by Quebec's National Public Health Institute.

The second-biggest increase in hospitalizations was reported a week ago, from Nov. 9 to Nov. 10, with an increase of 39 that day.

There are now a total of 638 people hospitalized from the virus in Quebec. Of these, there are now 100 people in intensive care after an increase of 13.

Among the regions, Montreal had the highest single-day increase in cases at 267, for a pandemic-long total of 47,135, That was followed by Montérégie with 136 new cases (18,076 total), Lanaudiere with 132 (9,787 total), and Saguenay - Lac-St-Jean with 101 new cases (3,199 total).

Authorities say that 1,328 more people have recovered from the disease, which brings that total to 107,326.

Health-care professionals analyzed 20,540 COVID-19 tests on Nov. 15. (Quebec releases its testing data from two days prior to its daily updates.)