According to Global News, the caseload for the province stands at 217,999 – and accounts for more than one-third of Canada’s COVID-19 infections. Since last March, the health crisis has claimed the lives of 8,488 Quebecers, with 2,641 new cases and 47 deaths added in the last 24 hours.
Even with a lockdown in place over the recent holidays, coronavirus cases continue to spiral out of control. The situation has required the province to consider even harsher restrictions. Some of those restrictions may include adding another week to remote-learning for school children, and shutting down non-essential activities in the manufacturing and construction sectors,
Quebec Public Health has made a recommendation that the province consider imposing a curfew, and if it is imposed, it would be Quebec’s first curfew since the start of the pandemic, reports CBC Canada.
“That is an extremely restrictive measure,” Benoit Barbeau, a virologist in the department of biological sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal, told CBC Montreal’s Daybreak.
“The government definitely has to consider how the population will accept such measures. It’s obviously to make sure there is not too much ongoing activity after these [curfew] hours.”
It is expected that the new restrictions and other measures will begin Saturday and last three to four weeks. Hospitalizations in the province now top 1,300 and an average of 2,578 new cases per day in the last seven days. According to a report from La Presse, Premier François Legault is expected to impose new stay-at-home orders starting at 8 p.m., enforced by police fines.
