These 6 Montreal Areas Are The 'Most-Affected' By The Omicron Wave

At a press conference on Thursday, Montreal's public health director, Dr. Mylène Drouin, outlined the current COVID-19 situation in the region.

She named six areas that she said were "most affected" by the lastest wave in terms of new cases and positivity rate: Petite-Patrie, the Plateau-Mont-Royal, the Mile End, Villeray, downtown and Hochelaga.

Drouin said that more than 60% of new cases in Montreal were among 18 to 44-year-olds. She noted that these neighbourhoods all have a high concentration of young adults.

Overall, there were 3,668 new cases reported in Montreal on December 22. Drouin was quick to point out that case counts are likely being underestimated, however.

"Evidently, a lot of people haven't been able to get an appointment to get tested and with rapid tests, we know that those [positive] cases aren't always declared," she explained.

Omicron is driving the latest surge in infections. Drouin said Thursday that the variant makes up 90% of COVID-19 cases in Montreal. The positivity rate, meanwhile, was between 18% and 20%, according to Drouin, meaning around one in five people who get tested at a testing centre are getting a positive result.

"The increase in the number of cases in Montreal concerns us like never before," CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal Director Sonia Bélanger added at the Thursday press conference.

As of December 22, 11 boroughs and on-island suburbs had a positive case rate per 100,000 residents that was greater than 800 in the past 14 days: Anjou (852.9), Hampstead (1,018.2), Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (886.6), Montréal-Est (1,532.5), the Town of Mont-Royal (803.9), Outremont (1,089.6), the Plateau-Mont-Royal (1,352.9), Rosemont–La-Petite-Patrie (1,227.9), the Sud-Ouest (1,017.3), Verdun (829.1) and Ville-Marie (1,045.2).