Infection rates in the province are still high, but it was a historic day Monday as residents in two seniors’ facilities in Quebec City were administered the first round of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Gisele Levesque, an 89-year-old resident at the Saint-Antoine care home in Quebec City received the vaccine at 11:25 a.m. She was the first person not only in Quebec, but all of Canada to receive the vaccine.
While more vaccine doses are due to arrive in the coming weeks, health officials say the number of people experiencing severe illness continues to increase across the country and people are urged to continue limiting close contacts and in-person interactions to only essential errands and activities and maintain physical distancing, wearing a mask and washing hands frequently.
The most recent data on the evolution of COVID-19 in Québec shows 1,620 new cases, bringing the total number of people infected to 165,535. The data also reports 25 new deaths, for a total of 7,533. The number of hospitalizations increased by 10 compared to the previous day, for a cumulative total of 890. Among those, the number of people in intensive care decreased by 1, for a total of 122.
In the Estrie region 77 new cases were reported, bringing the local total to 6,118.
Two new deaths were reported, bringing the total to 97 in Estrie since the beginning of the pandemic. According to local public health director Alain Poirier, the second wave of the pandemic has accounted for three times as many deaths as the first wave.
Among the outbreaks on the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS watchlist, three new schools, École du Phénix, Pavillon Ste-Marie, École Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix elementary schools and Séminaire de Sherbrooke were added to the list.
First COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Quebec
Record Staff
