COVID-19: improvement in Quebec, worrying data elsewhere in the country

Despite the announcement of the passage of new regions into the red zone on Tuesday, Quebec maintained its downward trend in the number of new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, while several provinces announced reports that remain worrying.

• Read also: All developments in the COVID-19 pandemic

By announcing 815 cases and five deaths on Tuesday, Quebec presented its best record since the beginning of October. Despite everything, the government decided to move, as of Friday, several new regions in the red zone, including the whole of Montérégie and the Capitale-Nationale.

“We have seen in recent days that it seems to stabilize. We don’t seem to be heading towards 1500 or 2000. […] The efforts we are making are starting to show results, ”despite everything, underlined Premier François Legault.

Over 60,000 cases in Ontario

This improvement in Quebec, all in all relative since the province remains the most affected in the country, has not had repercussions in Ontario. This province unveiled, Tuesday, 1553 infections and 12 deaths spread over 48 hours, or 746 cases detected on Monday and 807 on Sunday. In doing so, it has passed the milestone of 60,000 contaminations to date.

These data remain very high compared to those of the past few weeks, with Ontario having passed the 800 daily infection mark only three times since the start of the pandemic.

Like Quebec, Ontario has decided to impose a form of partial containment in the most affected cities, such as Ottawa and Toronto, in particular by forcing the closure of training centers and meeting places, while limiting restaurant owners to the preparation of take-out meals.

The Ontario government announced an envelope of $ 300 million to support these small businesses on Tuesday. The Prime Minister also pleaded with delivery giants like UberEats and DoorDash to do their part. “Please consider the idea of ​​reducing the commission rates you charge restaurants affected by these new measures,” said Doug Ford, arguing that these companies claim up to 30% commission on the value. meals ordered.

Another record in Manitoba

For the first time ever, Manitoba unveiled 124 COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, in addition to one death. This is the first record in the three figures for this province, which however specified that this number includes several forgotten cases.

Still, the disease is spreading particularly quickly in this prairie province, which these days finds itself with one of the highest rates of infection in the country per capita.

The province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Brent Roussin, said epidemiological investigations have shown that several Manitobans infected and experiencing symptoms have, despite everything, moved to public places in the past few days.

“We cannot be successful if people walk left and right while they have symptoms,” said Dr Roussin, asking sick people to stay at home.

Canada accumulated, at midday, a total of 2,532 new cases of COVID-19, increasing the number of infections to date to 185,369. Eighteen deaths were added to the toll for a total of 9,645 Canadians with lost his life while carrying the virus. Data for the past four days in Alberta and British Columbia, however, was still due on Tuesday.

The country’s record

Quebec: 87,791 cases (5,970 deaths)

Ontario: 60,692 cases (3,017 deaths)

Alberta: 19,995 cases (282 deaths)

British Columbia: 10,185 cases (245 deaths)

Manitoba: 2,779 cases (345 deaths)

Saskatchewan: 2,174 cases (25 deaths)

Nova Scotia: 1,092 cases (65 deaths)

New Brunswick: 284 cases (2 deaths)

Newfoundland and Labrador: 283 cases (4 deaths)

Prince Edward Island: 61 cases

Yukon: 15 cases

Northwest Territories: 5 cases

Nunavut: 0 cases

Canadian returnees: 13 cases

Total: 185,369 cases (9,645 deaths)