Legault’s ominous tweet suggests more restrictions could be announced tomorrow

Quebec Premier François Legault shared a tweet this morning that suggests Quebecers should brace themselves for more bad news. Legault’s statement echoes yesterday’s comments by Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé, who said that the province won’t hesitate to impose more public health restrictions and closures based on new pandemic data, especially regarding increases in hospitalizations that might overwhelm the health system. Quebec officials will hold a press conference on Wednesday.

“As in many places in the world, Quebec is faced with very difficult choices. What guides us is the ability or not to treat sick Quebecers in the coming weeks. We will come back to you tomorrow with our decisions.”

—François Legault

Comme dans beaucoup d’endroits dans le monde, le Québec est confronté à des choix très difficiles.
Ce qui nous guide, c’est la capacité qu’on aura ou non de soigner les Québécois malades dans les prochaines semaines. On vous revient demain avec nos décisions.

— François Legault (@francoislegault) December 21, 2021

This morning, Santé Québec reported 5,043 new COVID-19 cases across the province, another record.

As announced yesterday, Quebec primary and secondary schools are shut down as of today, until at least Jan. 10, and bars, cinemas, theatres, concert venues, casinos, sports centres, gyms and spas have been forced to close as well. Restaurants remain open (but must close up at 10 p.m. nightly), daycares are operating normally, non-essential retail stores are open (with 50% capacity) and private gatherings of up to 10 people from 3 households are still permitted.

This morning the city of Montreal declared a state of emergency over the Omicron variant.

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

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