MONTREAL—Quebec’s director of public health, Dr. Horacio Arruda, tendered his resignation on Monday, citing an erosion in public trust as the province grapples with record hospitalizations during a fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Premier Francois Legault accepted the offer, with Arruda’s departure confirmed to The Canadian Press by the premier’s office. His resignation comes as the province is in the midst of a surge of COVID-19 cases fueled by the more transmissible Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus. On Monday, Quebec reported 2,554 hospitalizations due to COVID-19—a new pandemic high—as well as 248 intensive care cases. The province has reported 11,966 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. Arruda wrote in a letter dated Monday that his office has offered public health opinions and recommendations amid uncertainty and based on the best available knowledge and various expert opinions. But he acknowledged there was a “certain erosion” in public support …