COVID 19: Montreal officials say 1 in 5 residents getting tested are positive

Montreal public health officials say one out of every five residents in the city getting tested for COVID-19 is positive.

The city’s public health director, Dr. Mylène Drouin, told reporters today that 90 per cent of COVID-19 cases in Montreal involve the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus and that the test positivity rate is between 18 and 20 per cent.

She says Montreal health officials identified more than 3,600 new cases on Wednesday and says that number is likely an underestimation, adding that 60 per cent of infections involve people between the ages of 18 and 44.

There are about 181 people in hospital with the disease in the city and officials say they are postponing some non-essential services and reorganizing personnel to increase the number of COVID-19-dedicated beds to 500.

Drouin says Montreal public health officials are no longer capable of contact tracing all the new cases reported every day because the numbers are overwhelming.

The Health Department is reporting 9,397 new cases of COVID-19 across Quebec today and a rise of 28 COVID-19-related hospitalizations.

by The Canadian Press