During a press briefing Thursday Quebec Premier François Legault said he will announce a “relaxing” of rules in some regions in the coming days, but the majority of the measures currently in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 will continue after Feb. 8.
While the number of daily cases has been in the decline in recent weeks, Legault said hospitals are still struggling with a backlog of patients whose treatments were delayed due to the pandemic.
Legault added that the new more contagious variants of COVID-19, specifically in the U.K. continue to pose a threat, and maintained pressure on the federal government to put a stop to non-essential travel or enforce a supervised quarantine in hotels at a travelers’ expense. Legault said from a legal standpoint the province is limited in the travel restrictions it can impose since international travel is federal jurisdiction.
The premier also announced that March 11 will become a day of remembrance for those who lost their lives to the virus.
Quebec reported 1,368 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday, bringing the total number of people infected to 258,698, of which 233,768 have now recovered. The province also reported 39 new deaths Thursday. The total now stands at 9,667.
The number of hospitalizations decreased by 26 compared to the previous day, for a cumulative total of 1,264. Among those, the number of people in intensive care decreased by nine, for a total of 212.
Thursday 3,767 doses of vaccine were administered, for a total of 232,986 administered in Quebec so far. To date, 238,100 doses have arrived in the province.
In the Estrie region, 53 new cases were reported, bringing the local total to 10,486.
One new death was also reported, from Fleurimont Hospital, bringing the total to 267 in the region since the beginning of the pandemic.
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