Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s director of public health, said that the province is on the cusp of a second wave of the virus, but added that it is unlikely Quebec will reimpose a partial lockdown on its citizens this fall. He explained this by saying that forcing people to stay home can have negative consequences on society.
“When we confine people, especially young people, there are consequences,’’ he told reporters in Montreal. “They need to go to school, they need to socialize. Elderly people can have significant cognitive and physical losses.”
Quebec reported 104 new COVID-19 infections and three deaths linked to novel coronavirus in the most recent data released on Sunday.
The total number of infections in the province since the start of the pandemic stands at 60,471, with 50,886 of those considered to have recovered.
The province added three deaths, including two reported in the previous 24 hours, for a total of 5,695 since the pandemic began.
The number of hospitalizations increased by one to 156 and one fewer person was listed in intensive care at 22.
The province performed 16,093 tests on Friday, the last day for which numbers were available. In the Estrie region, data as of Saturday set the total number of confirmed cases at 1,093, an increase of three from Friday’s report. There have been no new COVID-19 related deaths in the region since June 23 and the most recent information available is that no one in the Estrie with an active case of the disease is hospitalized at this time.
