Premier says Quebec testing more for coronavirus variants than other provinces
Posted February 11, 2021 12:52 pm.
Last Updated February 11, 2021 6:36 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MONTREAL _ Premier Francois Legault says Quebec may have detected fewer novel coronavirus variants than other provinces because it has fewer links to the United Kingdom.
Legault is defending his government’s progress on testing for new and allegedly more contagious variants after opposition parties said Quebec is falling behind.
He said today the higher number of confirmed cases of variants in Ontario and Alberta could be due to their residents’ closer ties to the U.K., where a more transmissible coronavirus variant was first detected.
There have been 10 confirmed cases involving variants of concern in Quebec, but Montreal public health director Dr. Mylene Drouin told reporters Wednesday that 35 additional cases in the city are suspected to involve variants.
Legault says the province will increase testing for variants and warned that their spread could accelerate.
Quebec is reporting 1,121 new cases of COVID-19 today and 37 more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including eight in the past 24 hours. Officials said hospitalizations dropped by 44, to 874, and that 143 people are in intensive care, a decline of five.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2021.
