By Daniel J. Rowe
MONTREAL — Quebec reached a troubling and grim milestone Wednesday in its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic when the province announced that over 1,500 people are now being treated for the disease in Quebec hospitals.
The province announced an increase of 19 since Tuesday, bringing the total number of hospitalizations to 1,516. Of those, 229 people are in the intensive care ward, an increase of eight.
In the past 24 hours, the province's health-care authorities reported that 2,071 more people have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of positive cases in the province to 234,695 since the start of the pandemic.
Of the total cases, 202,166 people have now recovered, an increase of 2,246.
Quebec also reported 35 new deaths, including seven in the past 24 hours, 23 between Jan. 6 and Jan. 11, four before Jan. 6, and one at an unknown date.
The province also found after an investigation that two deaths previously attributed to COVID-19 needed to be removed from the total deaths due to the disease in the province. That total is now 8,815.
On Tuesday, 7,855 doses of vaccine were administered, which is 797 more than the 7,058 doses administered Monday. The total number of vaccinations administered in the province is now 107,365 and Quebec says it has received 156,325 doses.
Health-care professionals analyzed 32,350 samples Jan. 11.