a public health department analyst explained to the montreal gazette that over the weekend the quebec health ministry imposed on montreal a change in the methodology in the way cases are calculated. this resulted in the department attributing 228 old covid-19 cases to the latest numbers.
the analyst pledged to provide additional data and explanations on tuesday. since the start of the pandemic, authorities have sometimes found it difficult to know the place of residence of someone who tested positive for covid-19. the daily updates included a category labelled “territory to be confirmed.”
it was during the weekend that the health department belatedly assigned 228 cases to the different boroughs and municipalities on the island of montreal.
so where did that leave the city on monday? the metropolis — which once was considered the epicentre of the pandemic in canada — posted 83 cases, the same number as sunday, and the lowest daily totals since march 22. at the borough/suburb level, côte-des-neiges—notre-dame-de-grâce logged only eight new cases from the day before, and villeray—st-michel—parc-extension 10 cases.
even more heartening is montreal declared only one covid-19 death on monday. the last time the city observed one daily death was on april 8. under these circumstances, quebec’s chief public health officer,
dr. horacio arruda, expressed optimism
, saying “there are less people dying and there are no active flare-ups of (local transmission).”