COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know Thursday
CBC
Quebec's Health Ministry does not publish the number of vaccines administered on weekends and public holidays.
Montreal public health officials will hold a news conference on COVID-19 Thursday morning.
Montreal alone reported 1,757 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday.
Dr. Mylène Drouin, the head of Montreal public health, will be leading the conference. Sonia Bélanger, who runs the health authority representing the city's downtown, the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, will also be in attendance.
Some testing centres in the Montreal region reported very high volumes of people attempting to get tested Wednesday.
In the east end of the city, people reportedly waited over four hours at the Chauveau testing centre in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Some locations, including the Olympic Stadium site, are switching to appointment-only testing, due to the demand.
The positivity rate for the city is now 16 per cent — a new high.
Premier François Legault announced new restrictions Wednesday on indoor gatherings as of Dec. 26, in an effort to slow the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant and limit hospital admissions.
Indoor gatherings in the province will be limited to six people — or two family bubbles.
Officials stopped short of announcing a curfew, which sources told Radio-Canada was discussed in a meeting yesterday evening but eventually dropped.
Businesses and restaurants will remain open and people can still hold indoor gatherings of up to 10 people until the 26th.
Quebec reported more than 6,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic. Legault said that number is up to 9,000 for the cases reported in the past 24 hours.
Health authorities are asking Quebecers to fill out the COVID-19 symptom self assessment form online and only head to a testing centre if showing symptoms.
Quebec's public health research institute, the INSPQ, has released new projections of the potential impact of the Omicron variant in Quebec.
Kayla DeMong fought tears as she described the dire conditions on the front lines, pleading for more help from the province as staff at the harm reduction site she leads try to keep up with the recent spike in overdoses.
A B.C. woman who has been detained by U.S. immigration officials for 11 days, after trying to enter the country, will be released on Friday, according to her father.
Toronto is doubling the number of automated speed cameras on city streets.
Health Minister Adriana LaGrange is alleging the former CEO of Alberta Health Services was unwilling and unable to implement the government's plan to break up the health authority, became "infatuated" with her internal investigation into private surgical contracts and made "incendiary and inaccurate allegations about political intrigue and impropriety" before she was fired in January.
Hudson's Bay Company filed for creditor protection last week, saying it's struggling to pay landlords, vendors and employees — and it's a process that could lead to the sale or closure of Canada's oldest company.
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RCMP say a man died while in police custody on Wednesday in downtown Yellowknife, and Alberta RCMP are investigating the incident.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford and federal officials left an hours-long meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying they feel more positive about the Canada-U.S. trading relationship after weeks of bad blood and heated rhetoric.
The Alberta government wants to cut more than $400 million in the fees it pays to doctors, according to a confidential memo obtained by The Canadian Press.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says Canada's incoming prime minister needs to immediately and urgently negotiate a way to avoid China's planned tariffs on Canadian canola — even before an election call.
A judge has sentenced a 48-year-old man to life in prison for brutally stabbing his ex-wife and daughter to death in North York in 2022.
Ontario is seeing a massive surge in measles cases as an ongoing outbreak spreads in the province among mostly unvaccinated people.
Prince Edward Island's Affordable Housing Development Program fell short of its intended purpose, the province's Auditor General says.