COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know this weekend

• Quebec reported 125new cases of COVID-19 on Fridayand onedeathin the past 24 hours.
• Since the start of the pandemic, there have been377,297confirmed casesand11,241people have died.
• There are 60people in hospital (adecrease of one),including 17in intensive care(adecrease of three).
• 68,123doses of vaccine were administeredfor a total of 10,980,147doses administered in Quebec.
• 83per cent of the eligible population in the province (age 12 and up) have received one dose of vaccine, and 64per cent have received two doses.

COVID-19 data is no longerupdated by Quebec's Health Ministry on weekends or on public holidays.

Quebec has further loosened restrictions onbars, restaurantsand eventsdue to the province's climbing vaccination rate.

As of Sunday at 12:01 a.m., bars and restaurants are officiallyallowed to serve alcohol until 1 a.m. one hour longer than wascurrently permitted and stadiums, venues and festivals can welcome 15,000 spectators outdoors, up from 5,000. The details on all changes can be found here.

The relaxed measures were announced last week as more than 60 per cent of all eligible Quebecers have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccination.

Meanwhile, Quebec's 18 to 34 age group is close to hitting the 75 per cent vaccination target.

According to the province's health minister Friday, only 50,000 more young adultsneed to get vaccinated before 75 per cent ofall eligible agegroups in Quebec will have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

"The data is encouraging," Christian Dub said in a tweet. "The evolution of new cases in Quebec is stable despite what is happening in the rest of the world."

Regardless of the province's optimism, however, there hasbeen a noticeable increase in the number of COVID-19 cases this week.

On Tuesday, 73 infections were reported. Since then, the province has recorded daily totals of 133, 138 and 125.

In that time, however, the number of hospitalizations has gone down.

Overall, 83 per cent of Quebecers aged 12 and older have received one vaccine dose, and 64 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Top COVID-19 stories

• Quebec study aims to develop treatment for COVID-19 long-haulers
• The U.S. land border will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least Aug. 21
• Quebec's vaccine lottery kicks off toencourage shots before return to school
• Nurses in Quebec are decrying dismal work conditions in ERs
• Pandemic travel restrictions are leaving children of temporary residents stranded abroad
• Here's what Quebec can learn from other regions with vaccination passport systems
• Why the delta variantis spreading so fast and what that means for Canadians
• Canada could avoid the worst of a fourth wave but we're not out of the woods yet
• Push to vaccinate Quebecers18-29 is on, as normal return to higher education hangs in the balance