Quebec’s novel coronavirus caseload has reached 133,206 after the province reported 1,164 new infections Monday.
Health Minister Christian Dubé encouraged the public to continue abiding by public health restrictions and limiting their contacts to bring down the number of new cases.
“It’s together that we will get there,” he wrote on social media.
The regions with the highest number of reported infections are Montreal with 294 new cases followed by Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean with 161. Lanaudière has 142 new cases while the Montérégie region, located south of Montreal, clocked 125.
There are 13 additional deaths, including three in the past 24 hours. Ten of those deaths occurred last week and they have been retroactively added to the death toll.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of 6,842 Quebecers since March. This includes 3,595 deaths in Montreal.
The number of hospitalizations dropped by eight to 634. Of those patients, 98 are in intensive care, a decrease of five from the previous day.
Health authorities say 20,017 tests were given Saturday, the latest day for which screening information is available. So far, there have been more than 3.7 million tests.
To date, there have been 115,367 recoveries in Quebec.
Restrictions extended in red zones
The tightened measures in designated red zones, such as Montreal and Quebec City, will continue until January 2021.
The restrictions — which include the closure of bars, gyms, museums and dining rooms as well as a ban on most gatherings — were rolled out Oct. 1 to limit the spread of the virus.
At the end of last month, the partial lockdown was extended until at least Nov. 23 since the number of new cases remained high.
Last week, Quebec Premier François Legault announced the measures in areas on red alert will remain enforced until Jan. 11. Aside from its two largest cities, a swath of the province is on the highest alert level amid the pandemic’s second wave.
“There are just too many cases,” Legault said.
— With files from the Canadian Press
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