In a press conference, the regional director of public health clarified that the person was over 65 years old. Dr. Marie-Josée Godi did not want to say if she had been vaccinated and if she had a variant of the virus.
Vaccination is now extended to adults aged 60 and under who are essential workers and who are in contact with users. In order to vaccinate these workers, 10,000 time slots are now open.
Some adults under the age of 60 who have a chronic illness or condition that may increase the risk of complications from COVID-19 will also now be able to get the vaccine.
People eligible under this category will be contacted by health personnel and therefore do not need to make an appointment, explained the director of public health at the Integrated University Health and Social Services Center of La Mauricie. -and-du-Center-du-Québec (CIUSSS MCQ). Dr. Godi adds that their vaccination will be done in a hospital environment.
Jump in the number of daily cases
There are 63 new cases of COVID-19, including 35 in Center-du-Québec and 28 in Mauricie.
The long Easter weekend is no stranger to this situation as well as the gatherings of the last few days, according to the regional director of public health.
Among these new cases, 19 were identified in the MRC of Drummondville, 11 in that of Arthabaska, 10 in Trois-Rivières and 9 in Shawinigan.
Since the beginning of April, we have seen a gradual increase in the number of daily cases
, worried Dr. Godi.
The last time the number of new daily cases exceeded 60 was on January 21, 2021. We had then had 77 reported cases.
The region has remained at the orange level, but it is a very fragile situation.
19 people are hospitalized with the virus, an increase of two compared to the previous day. Five of them are in intensive care.
Dr. Godi says the majority of people hospitalized are over 65 and that only one person hospitalized would have received a first dose of the vaccine.
There are now nearly 300 active cases in the health region, including more than half in Center-du-Québec.
No more variants and they attack the younger ones
The National Institute of Public Health (INSPQ) lists 284 variants of COVID-19 in Mauricie and Center-du-Québec, which is 16 more than the day before.
In just one week, we almost doubled the number of variants detected by screening. With such a development, we run the risk of catching up with or surpassing the Quebec average over the next few days.
In the region, health authorities are finding that younger sections of the population are affected by the variants, compared to what prevailed with the original virus.
There is now a greater proportion of young people aged 10 to 19 as well as adults aged 40 to 49 who are infected with the virus since the appearance of variants.
More screening
For a little over two weeks, the regional health authorities have observed greater attendance at screening clinics. The capacity to test the population will therefore be enhanced in Drummondville, Victoriaville, Shawinigan and Trois-Rivières.
In addition, as of April 14 at 11 am, 122,210 doses of vaccines had been administered in the health region since the start of the vaccination campaign.
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