Over 25,000 COVID cases, 2,600 deaths in Montreal

Montreal had a total of 25,043 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, with the city’s north and east sectors bearing the brunt of the pandemic.

Whereas the early outbreaks of COVID -19 happened in Montreal’s west end in March, over half the 2,690 people who have died were patients in the CIUSSS north and east sectors.

Friday’s figures mark a four-percent increase in mortalities and a two-per-cent rise in total confirmed cases since Tuesday, when the public health department last published detailed statistics on Montreal.

As of Thursday evening, according to data released Friday, Montreal North remained by far the sector with the highest infection rate on the island, with 2,770 cases per 100,000 people — more than double the city-wide rate of 1,212. Rivière-des-prairies— Pointe-aux-trembles is a distant second with 1,853, followed by Ahuntsic-cartierville (1,565) and Mercier—hochelaga-maisonneuve (1,532).

All of these sectors have a death rate higher than 200 per 100,000 residents, except for Rivière-des-prairies—pointe-auxtrembles (169).

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that none of those sectors have seen new cases rise by more than three per cent since Tuesday’s update.

Montreal’s west end is doing comparatively better. The territories covered by CIUSSS du Centreouest-de-l’île-de-montréal

and CIUSSS Ouest-de-l’île-de-montréal account for roughly 30 per cent of the city’s COVID-19 cases (7,120) and deaths (774).

With a rate of 1,397 cases per 100,000 residents, Lasalle’s infection statistics are the closest to the hard-hit sectors in northand east-end Montreal. Rates in Verdun (1,278) and Lachine (1,218) are also much higher than in West Island communities like Kirkland (486), Ste-anne-de-bellevue (636) and Beaconsfield (295).

In Dorval — site of the Résidence Herron outbreak that caused 31 deaths — the situation appears to have stabilized. There is only one COVID -19 death not related to the Herron facility, and the infection rate (911) is below the city-wide average.