Quebec's Health Ministry reported a large drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations on Wednesday with 30 fewer patients receiving care for the disease and eight fewer people in intensive care units. There are now 1,222 people in the province's hospitals after 67 patients checked in and 97 were discharged. Sixty-nine people are in ICUs after four were admitted or transferred to an ICU and 12 were discharged. Of the new patients in hospital, 40 were triple-vaccinated, 10 double-vaccinated and 10 unvaccinated. One person received a single vaccine dose before check in, four had unknown vaccination status and two were under five years old and ineligible for vaccination. Six more people have died due to COVID-19, bringing the total number of deaths during the pandemic to 14,126. NEW CASES JUMP Out of 12,995 PCR tests analyzed, 1,426 came back positive for a positivity rate of 9.9 per cent. There have been 932,176 positive PCR tests recorded in Quebec. There were 417 more self-declared rapid tests reported in the province, including 319 that came back positive. There have been 81,757 positive self-declared rapid tests. The ministry is monitoring 434 active COVID-19 outbreaks, and the Quebec Institute of Public Health (INSPQ) says there are 13,068 active cases in the province. On March 7, a total of 15,132 samples were analyzed. VACCINATION CAMPAIGN Quebec health-care professionals administered 4,955 more COVID-19 vaccines, including 4,942 in the past 24 hours. The majority of those (3,382) were booster shots. The total number of vaccinations administered in the province is now 18,490,870, and 308,612 doses have been administered to Quebecers out of province.
