Daily numbers down and vaccinations up in Quebec

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According to Quebec’s Health Minister, Christian Dube, the seven-day average number of new cases of COVID-19 in the province has now dropped below 1,000. While Dubé hailed this as good news for the decline of infection in the province he said it must go hand-in-hand with vaccination.

On that note, the health minister also pointed out that the province set a new record for appointments made in a single day on Tuesday, with 236,617 people registering to get their shot. Despite that significant number, he pointed out that appointments continue to be available in many regions of the province for anyone who does not have one yet and is in an eligible group. The next priority age group to open up will be the 35-39 year-olds on Friday.

The Province of Quebec reported 915 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total number of people infected to 354,390. The total number of active cases in the province remained almost unchanged from the day before, at 8,895.

Five new deaths were recorded, for a total of 10,964, but the overall number of hospitalizations and people in intensive care decreased by six and three respectively.

In the Eastern Townships, Wednesday brought news of 53 new cases, with close to half once again coming from

the Granit region. The number of active cases increased to 465.

The region continued to have no new deaths attributed to COVID-19 and the number of people in intensive care remained unchanged at eight, but general hospitalizations saw a dramatic increase of eight, to reach 25.

As of Wednesday morning a total of 3,365,575 doses of vaccine had been administered out of 3,893,539 doses that have been received in total so far. The Province now registers 38.2 per cent coverage of the population for a first dose, with 1.5 per cent having received their second. 187,630 people had received their first dose in the Eastern Townships as of Wednesday morning, accounting for 37.1 per cent of the local population, and 7,249 have received a second dose, representing 1.4 per cent of the population. The local public health authority was also reporting that second-dose vaccination in long term care homes in the region has reached 45.9 per cent.

On Wednesday Valcourt-based BRP announced the opening of the vaccination centre for its employees. In order to help ensure mass-vaccination as quickly as possible, the government of Quebec called upon large-scale employers to participate in the campaign and the local manufacturer of recreational vehicles was one of 13 to respond to that call.

“This initiative will speed up the vaccination process and contribute to the health of our employees, their families, and our fellow citizens,” the company shared in a Facebook post, adding that they expect to provide vaccinations for up to 25,000 people through the centre between the months of May and August.