New Quebec public health measures to be announced Tuesday

Editor’s note: Yesterday, we incorrectly used the word “restrictions” instead of “measures” when discussing today’s press conference. This was an unacceptable & irresponsible editorial decision & we are sorry. We will do better. We sincerely apologize for any stress that the headline caused.

Quebec Premier François Legault suggested in a tweet on Monday that new public health measures will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday at 1 p.m. with Health Minister Christian Dubé and Public Health Director Horacio Arruda.

Radio-Canada has since reported that Daniel Paré, who’s overseeing the vaccine rollout in Quebec, will also be present at today’s press conference. Although it’s unclear whether the announcement will involve restrictions on the general population or the next steps in the booster rollout, the office of the Higher Education Minister Danielle McCann revealed on Monday that Quebec public health is recommending a further extension of the holiday break from in-person learning for CEGEP and university students.

A record 12,833 new cases were reported across Quebec today, with 88 more hospitalizations since yesterday. Legault said during last week’s press conference that the province would not hesitate to impose more restrictions if cases and hospitalizations continue to increase, echoing a similar statement from Dubé last Monday.

Legault noted that while cases and hospitalizations are increasing rapidly, intensive care admissions are thankfully increasing at a lower rate.

“The number of cases and hospitalizations are increasing rapidly. Fortunately, the increase in intensive care is less.”

—François Legault

On confine tout !

— Stastny Fan (Avs) ???????????????? (@ItsNewhook18) December 28, 2021

The Premier made a brief public appearance on Monday when he received his booster shot. Legault’s age group (60 to 64 — he’s 64) can now schedule appointments for booster shots in Quebec.

This article was originally published on Dec. 27 and updated on Dec. 28 at 12:33 p.m.

For more on COVID-19 in Quebec, please click here.

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