Montreal region could see spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations over holidays, INSPQ says – CBC

There are currently about 200 new hospitalizations per day in Quebec

Dec 12, 2022

The Montreal region may be kicking off the new year with a repeat of early 2022 when it comes to COVID-19-related hospitalizations.

That’s the worst-case projection by Quebec’s institute of public health (INSPQ) which teamed up with the Université Laval to model three possible scenarios for the coming months.

While the increase in gathering over the holidays plays a role in the expected spike in hospitalizations, the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants and their subvariants may also be a driving force, the INSPQ said in a report published Monday.

Preliminary data shows that vaccine or previous infection immunity is less effective against these variants and subvariants.

At the beginning of December, approximately half of the cases in Quebec were due to the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants, the INSPQ says, and the proportion of cases caused by these subvariants is increasing rapidly not only in the province, but around the world.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-inspq-hospitalizations-1.6683266