According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the global coronavirus death toll rose past a million on Tuesday, while in Quebec, numbers continue to increase forcing parts of the province to go through a 28-day lockdown.
As of Wednesday morning, Quebec public health has announced 838 new coronavirus cases in their daily update, just a day before the new restrictions are set in place.
The seven-day rolling average of daily cases is now 743, but this marks the second time since May that Quebec has registered more than 800 new infections— although Tuesday did see 799 cases, one shy of the 800 mark.
Montreal reported the most cases of any region (318), followed by Quebec City (134) and Montérégie (97).
According to Santé Quebec, the number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in Montreal has nearly doubled in a week. The latest stats show there are now 74,288 cases in the region, 262 hospitalizations, and 43 patients in intensive care.
There are no new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, but one death has been linked to the week of September 23 to 28.
The province’s public health director, Horacio Arruda, has said transmission during the second wave is largely occurring in the community, fuelled by private gatherings and a relaxing of safety measures.
Finally, Quebec has also reported 1,640 COVID-19 cases across 635 schools since the start of the school year. According to the latest government data, 512 schools are currently dealing with active cases.
The figures published by the education ministry take into account pre-schools, elementary schools, high schools (both in the public and private sectors), and vocational and adult education centres.
