Montreal likely to become a COVID-19 orange zone tonight

Several media outlets are reporting that Montreal, Quebec City and Chaudière-Appalaches will graduate from yellow to orange COVID-19 zones tonight, according to government sources. Quebec Minister of Public Health and Public Services Christian Dubé and provincial Public Health director Horacio Arruda will be giving a rare press conference tonight (Sunday, Sept. 20) at 5 p.m. Santé Québec reported 462 new cases of COVID-19 today.

CTV reports that “the Legault government is giving itself a few hours to finalize the decision.” La Presse reports that the three regions in question might be divided into sub-regions where different restrictions could be applied.

As reported earlier this week, a move to the orange level in Montreal will likely reduce the number of people allowed at private indoor gatherings (from 10 to 6), and could affect the number of people allowed at public indoor gatherings, too (from 250 back to 50) as well as the hours in which bars and restaurants can operate, if not close them entirely. See the complete list of possible restrictions here.

The province also announced the massive Operation OSCAR this weekend, wherein provincial and municipal police were going to be present in 1,000 bars and restaurants to enforce public health rules this weekend. ■

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