COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know Wednesday
CBC
Quebec's Health Ministry does not publish the number of vaccines administered on weekends and public holidays.
Premier François Legault will be holding a news conference tonight at 6 p.m., as Quebec continues to break daily case records and the Omicron variant spreads across the province.
Health Minister Christian Dubé and public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda will also be in attendance.
In a tweet, Legault said the province is now facing some "difficult decisions," just days after announcing sweeping restrictions to public life, including shutting down schools, bars and movie theatres.
According to sources speaking to Radio-Canada, Quebec will report over 6,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.
About 80 per cent of those cases will likely be the Omicron variant, according to Quebec's public health institute, the INSPQ.
The press conference will be carried live on CBC Radio and CBC Montreal News at 6.
Quebec has requested support from the Canadian Armed Forces to help with vaccinations.
The province is also preparing for an expected spike in hospitalizations due to the Omicron variant.
Part of the plan is to postpone half of scheduled surgeries to free up space in hospitals, which have been decimated by acute staff shortages, according to Radio-Canada.
Quebec's Health Ministry has also requested help from the Red Cross, according to Radio-Canada.
The hope is that the organization will be able to send specialized teams to work in infection-control in institutions struggling with COVID. The specialized teams were called in to help in the spring of 2020, when the first wave of COVID was overwhelming many of Quebec's long-term care homes.
The Omicron variant is now the dominant coronavirus strain circulating in Quebec, according to the province's public health institute, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ).
Omicron now accounts for about 80 per cent of cases in the province, the INSPQ said in a news release this afternoon.
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.
Still sleepy from this week's time change?
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.