According to the interim director of public health, Dr. Luc Boileau, there are no plans to reinstate health measures in the near future, but the situation will be closely monitored.
Dr. Luc Boileau: According to all indications, Quebec is entering a 6th wave. There is no question of a return to sanitation as before, we will wait until mid-April to see if the mask orders will remain.
– Rob Lurie (@RLurieCTV) March 27, 2022
“[The increase is] “It is not a surprise, it is expected due to the measures that were released”, Boileau said in a press conference on Sunday.
The province is still scheduled to lift the mask mandate by mid-April, though that could change if the situation continues to decline.
Boileau noted that as hospitalizations increased elsewhere in Quebec, Montreal remained relatively stable.
This may be due to the fact that Montreal already experienced high Omicron rates earlier this year, which means that the variant is not as large as before – even with the BA.2 sub-variant on the rise.
BA.2 is responsible for about half of all new infections in Quebec.
Public health is preparing a support campaign for a fourth dose of vaccines, initially for those at greater risk, such as those in long-term care facilities, nursing homes, the immunocompromised and the elderly.
Quebec reported 2,203 new positive cases of the virus on Friday, though that number was likely to be higher as PCR tests are not available to the general public.
With a test positive of 16.3%, it was the third consecutive day that the daily number of cases increased by more than 2,000.
This is a story that unfolds.
