Quebec revises COVID-19 data reporting after 'significant underestimation' of recovered patients

Quebec health officials say they are changing how COVID-19 data is reported to clarify how many people have recovered from the disease andprovidea clearer picture of how many active cases there are in the province.

On Friday,anotice published to the website of Quebec's public healthresearch institute, the INSPQ, saidthe method used up until Thursday resulted in a "significant underestimation" of how many people have recovered.

Quebec has now adopted an algorithm used in otherprovinces that estimates the number of people who have recovered, even if their up-to-date status has not been entered in the system.

Basically, according to the INSPQ, those who are believed to no longer contribute to the transmission of COVID-19 are considered recovered.

Using this method, Quebec public healthsaid in an email to CBC News there are currently 7,203 active cases in theprovince. However, that would appear to include the 5,647 deaths due to COVID-19.

INSPQ does not include deaths in the number of active cases. Agraph on its website indicates there are actually 1,556 confirmed cases that remain active in the province,which has a population of about 8.5 million people.

Quebec has conducted more than one million tests, with nearly 670,000 coming back negative, according to Quebec public health.

Nearly 50,000 Quebec residents recovered

Until thenew method was introduced, people would watch the number of cases climb every day, making it seem as though there were more than 57,000 residents withCOVID-19.

Under the new system,INSPQ data shows that49,939 people are considered recovered.

According to INSPQ,most people will be considered COVID-free after 14 days. Those who are immunocompromisedmust wait 21 days before they're considered clear of the disease.Those patients over 80 orwho reside in a long-term care home are considered recovered after 28 days.

Patients who were hospitalized are considered COVID-free when discharged, or if 21 days havepassed since the first positive test.

While people may be considered unable to transmit the disease after a certain period of time, there are reports across Canada and around the world of patients having symptoms forseveral weeks.

Evidence has also emerged that COVID-19 affects more parts of the body thanthe lungs, and patients have been reporting it takes weeks, if not months in some cases, to fully recover from the disease.

In an emailed statement to CBC News, Quebec public health saidit had beenconsulted by the INSPQ before the new method was published and hadagreed to the change.

Public health said in the statement that itknew the number of active cases could not be as high as it had been in recent weeks.

Quebec sees steady rise in cases, increases testing

Quebec has ramped up testing in recent daysas there has been a steady increase in new cases more than 800 since July 10.

While many have blamed the increase onthe reopening of bars in the province, Quebec Premier Franois Legault said on Friday thatprivate gatherings are the main problem.

Legault said he does not plan to close bars for now, and he is instead encouraging people to avoid parties.

The province's current public health rulesallowonly 10 people in any one place at any private gathering, 50 if they are in a public place.

"It's fun to be in a big gang and celebrate, but it's not the time to do that," Legault said. "You have to be very, very careful not to be forced to go back into confinement."