Quebec health authorities reported 815 new cases of COVID-19 registered in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 87,791 across the province. The report also states that five more people have died due to the disease, three of which were in the past 24 hours. In total, there have been 5,970 deaths in Quebec so far.
This marks the second day in a row that the province’s case count has been hovering over 800, after reporting more than 1,000 cases a day most days last week.
There were 11 more hospitalizations, for a total of 468. Of those, 85 are in intensive care, an increase of 10.
Despite the drop in case numbers, Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced several regions of the province are now being moved to red zone rules.
The premier said that all Montérégie, the Centre-du-Québec, and all the Capitale-Nationale (including Charlevoix) are going into red alert.
"Things seem to be stabilizing. We don't seem to be going towards 1,500 or 2,000 cases," Legault said. "So, once again, it's too early to celebrate, but... there's reason to believe that the efforts we're making are bearing fruit."
The announcement was made at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. According to Legault, measures for these new red zone regions will gradually take effect later in the week.
