COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know Friday

• Quebec reported1,918new caseson Fridayand 62more deaths.Two previously reported deaths are no longer attributed to COVID-19.
• Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 238,745confirmed cases and 8,938people have died.Here's aguide to the numbers.
• There are 1,496people in hospital (a decrease of 27), including 231in intensive care (an increase of one).
• 11,369 doses ofvaccine were administered on Thursday,for a total of roughly 127,000.
• CBC Montreal is collecting stories from Quebecers who have recovered from COVID-19. If you would like to share your experience, pleaseget in touch.

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Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubannounced Friday evening that due to delays inPfizer's production line,86,775 of 176,475 doses of the vaccine which were supposed to be delivered by Feb. 8 won't arrive.

The delay is now forcingthe provinceto revise its vaccination campaign calendar.

On Thursday, Quebec said it was delaying the delivery of thesecond dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in an effort to protect as many Quebecers as possible with the first dose.

"Saving lives is a moral imperative, reducing the number of hospitalizations is a necessity," said Dubsaid Thursday. "The more doses we have, the more we'll be able to reduce the delay between the first and second dose."

Dubis pledging to deliver a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccinewithin "a maximum" of 90 days.

Dr. Richard Mass, the public health specialist who is advising the provincial vaccine co-ordination task force, said putting off second doses by a few weeks will allow 500,000 at-risk people, mostly over the age of 70, to be vaccinated with the first dose between now and the end of March.

As for the daily case total, the health minister said cases appear to be stabilizing around the 2,000 mark, but with hospitalizations still on the rise, he urged people to follow the rules.

"The situation, for me, is still very worrisome, particularly when it comes to hospitalizations and that's why we're still seeing a very high number of deaths," Dub said.

Quebec's new public health regulations explained

4 years ago

Duration 3:53

As Quebec descends into its first quarantine curfew since the era of the Spanish flu, there are more rules to follow and fewer opportunities to bend them undetected.

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