By Gordon Lambie
The province of Quebec reported only 433 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday which, combined with the recoveries over the weekend, dropped the number of active cases in the province down to 5,712; nearly 1,300 fewer than there were this time one week ago. The total number of deaths recorded to date climbed by 29 over the weekend to 11,095, but the number of people hospitalized decreased by 36 compared to last Thursday, to 424. As of Monday morning there were 102 people in intensive care because of the virus across the province, a decreased of five from last week.
Although there have been very slightly more recoveries than new cases over the last seven days in the Eastern Townships, the reports over the weekend did not demonstrate the same downward trend that the rest of the province has been following. Saturday and Monday’s reports came in with more than 60 new cases each day, with the number of active cases in the region rising back up to 466 as a result.
Part of that climb can be attributed to a spike in cases coming from the Coaticook area, where the rate of infection increased to 356.8 cases per 100,000 people, second only to the 628.8 in the Granit region. The Granit remains the sub-region with the highest number of active cases, 134, followed by Sherbrooke with 118, Coaticook with 67, the Val Saint-François with 30, Memphrémagog and la Pommeraie with 28 each, the Haute-Yamaska and Des Sources with 20 each, and the Haut-Saint-François with 19.
There were 24 people in hospital in the region for COVID-19, five of whom were in intensive care, and one new death was reported in the community, bringing the local total to 343
Over the weekend the province’s vaccination figures climbed to 55.2 per cent first dose coverage, with 5.3 per cent of the population now considered “adequately vaccinated” due to having either had two doses or a single dose and a verified case of the virus. As of Monday morning 4,997,234 doses had been administered across the province, 327,868 of which have been second doses.
According to the provincial vaccination record, 290,269 doses have been administered so far in the Eastern Townships, although the regional healthcare establishment does not provide more precise data over the weekend for the specific breakdown.
