Quebec premier tests positive for COVID-19, says he feels well
CBC
Quebec Premier François Legault has tested positive for COVID-19 but is doing well, he announced on Twitter Thursday afternoon.
"This afternoon, I started experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. I took a test and received a positive result," he tweeted.
The premier says he will continue to work remotely for the next five days, in accordance with public health guidelines.
"We see it with the rise in cases lately: the virus is present in Quebec," Legault said on Twitter. "Let's continue to be careful. We'll get through this together!"
Legault's announcement comes just as Quebec is bracing for a potential surge in new cases and hospitalizations.
Quebec's interim public health director, Dr. Luc Boileau, said on Wednesday that a new round of vaccinations will begin next week for some of the province's most vulnerable, and the mask mandate will stay in effect until mid-April, as planned.
Residents of long-term care and retirement homes will be first on the list to get another booster by early next week, said Boileau.
Any Quebecer aged 80 and up will also have access to the new dose, he said, as will those who rely on in-home care through the public health system.
Boileau said cases and hospitalizations are again on the rise, and the risk of catching and transmitting the virus remains high.
"I ask you all to be careful," said Boileau, describing the Omicron subvariant BA.2 as a "game changer."
The subvariant is 30 to 50 per cent more contagious than Omicron, he said, and that's why cases are rising everywhere.
The number of hospitalizations has gone up by 28 to 1,062 in the last 24 hours, according to Quebec Public Health.
Also in the last 24 hours, Quebec recorded 2,295 new cases, which is considered an underestimate, since PCR testing of the general public was stopped in early January.
Tests remain available to those in high-risk settings such as hospitals, long-term care homes, detention centres and homeless shelters.
The City of Charlottetown is attempting to mend its relationship with Elections P.E.I.
The owner of a Hamilton restaurant says he "can't be more thankful" to the community for the response he received after an incident that police say they are investigating as a hate crime.
It was Windsor's Ward 10 councillor who gave his constituents the "Please Slow Down" sign sitting on the law outside the home where a woman died this week after a driver crashed through the building. Now, Coun. Jim Morrison says he's going to look into new traffic calming measures for the area.
When new immigrants arrive in Calgary without strong English, they often look for clearing jobs or warehouse work. But with unemployment rates among newcomers soaring, even these entry-level jobs are in short supply.
Laura Petit moved into her current rental in Thunder Bay, Ont., because she wanted to live somewhere quiet and accessible while recovering from open-heart surgery.
Before tiny French bulldog Clementine was brought to the Toronto Humane Society, she was found abandoned and bleeding inside a chip box in a park.
Canada's premiers are meeting virtually Wednesday with the prime minister to discuss the threat of U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he hopes to talk about the country's approach to negotiations.
A man from Pelly Crossing, Yukon, wants the Whitehorse General Hospital to do better when discharging rural patients who arrive by medevac.
A prominent Canadian novelist is speaking out after a local high school teacher was ordered to stop teaching one of his award-winning novels in class because of its use of the N-word.
A 29-year-old Canadian woman is facing charges in New Zealand after customs authorities say she was caught with 10.2 kilograms of methamphetamine inside her carry-on baggage at an Auckland airport, with the contraband wrapped as if it belonged under a Christmas tree.
A day after a judicial recount confirmed the loss of his seat and two weeks after his party was nearly wiped out in the provincial election, Liberal Leader Zach Churchill has stepped down from the helm of the party.