Quebec surpasses 13,000 COVID-19 deaths, the highest in Canada | The Canadian News

Quebec is reporting 3,270 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Wednesday and 73 more deaths linked to the virus.

The death toll since the start of the pandemic now stands at 13,009, the highest in Canada.

With 297 new hospital admissions and 305 patients discharged, pandemic-related hospitalizations dropped by eight over the previous day.

Of the 3,270 patients, 252 are being treated in intensive care units for a drop of 11.

On Tuesday, Quebec Premier François Legault cited the drop in hospitalizations for allowing a gradual lifting of some COVID-19 restrictions, including reopening restaurants at half capacity and the return of organized sports for kids.

The number of new infections reported on Wednesday stands at 4,150 for a total of 845,564 since the start of the health crisis.

In a press release Tuesday, the Health Ministry announced the creation of a new web service for people to register the results of their rapid screening tests, be they positive or negative.

The government says the new tool will give officials a better idea of ​​the number of cases and will allow to better assess the positivity rate in the population.

Since screening facilities are currently reserved for priority groups such as health workers, the number of cases has been underestimated.

Meanwhile, 80,131 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to over 17.3 million doses.

So far 85.5 per cent of the population has received at least one shot, while 90 per cent of those aged 12 and over are considered adequately vaccinated against the disease.