Quebec lockdown and 8 p.m. curfew to last from Jan. 9 to Feb. 8

UPDATED: La Presse is reporting that Quebec Premier François Legault, in conjunction with Public Safety Minister Geneviève Guilbault and the province’s Public Health directorate, decided on Tuesday evening what the impending lockdown will look like. In what is being described as an “electroshock” strategy to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Quebec (and safeguard the health network, where ICU beds in particular are becoming scarce), anyone outdoors after 8 p.m. between Jan. 9 and Feb. 8 could be fined by police for breaking the province-wide curfew. A curfew has been imposed during the pandemic in some European countries and U.S. states.

The curfew will also affect essential services across Quebec, with grocery stores and supermarkets being asked to close by 7 or 7:30 p.m. to allow staff to get home.

Though the province hadn been mulling the idea of extended school closures, elementary schools will reopen as planned on Jan. 11 and high schools will only be closed one week long, until Jan. 18. Daycares will remain open. Nonessential retail, restaurants and other businesses and establishments that were already closed will remain closed until Feb. 8.

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