Legault hopes to maintain the 20-person limit for the holidays
François Legault refuses to be alarmed by the rise in cases and community transmission of the Omicron variant reported in Ontario.
The Quebec premier was in Montreal on Monday at the offices of the Sun Youth organization, which is in the midst of preparing and distributing Christmas baskets.
"For the moment, no tightening of sanitary measures is expected in the run-up to the holidays," he said at a media scrum.
Legault is meeting this Monday evening with the public health team led by Dr. Horacio Arruda, along with Health Minister Christian Dubé. Dubé and Arruda will provide an update on Tuesday on the current COVID-19 situation and expert projections.
ONTARIO MONITORING
Legault acknowledged that the situation in Ontario must be closely monitored.
"What's happening with the Omicron variant in Ontario, we can think that it's going to get here, so we can't take it lightly," he said. However, he noted that the number of hospitalizations in Quebec, which stands at 268 as of Monday, is not a cause for concern so far.
"It remains relatively low," he said, arguing that the high rate of vaccination in Quebec is limiting the impact on hospitalizations.
Although the outbreak of the Omicron variant is exponential in Ontario, he added that "there is no reason at this point to think that this variant is more dangerous than Delta or the other variants."
MORE HOSPITALIZATIONS EXPECTED
He warns, however, that "there will be an increase in hospitalizations, but how much? That is what the experts will tell us this (Monday) evening."
There is no plan to close the border between Quebec and Ontario, as was the case for two months last April.
"We are not there now and when we look at the hospitalizations in Ontario, when we compare with the percentage of the population, we are in comparable figures," he said.
He took the opportunity to remind everyone that the maximum number of people allowed in a home remains at 10 until Dec. 23, but his comments make it clear that he wants to allow families to get together over the holidays.
"For the holiday season, the public health recommendation is to go to a maximum of 20. For the moment, we don't have any changes proposed by public health (...) but for many reasons, we think it's important to keep this maximum of 20, so that families can see each other during the holiday season," he said.
- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 13, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Galen Weston pushes back on 'misguided criticism' of Loblaw as boycott begins
Loblaw chairman Galen Weston, as well as the company's new chief executive, pushed back on what they called 'misguided criticism' of the grocer as a boycott against the company gains steam online.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
TD Bank hit with $9.2M penalty after failing to report suspicious transactions
Canada's financial intelligence agency says it has levied a $9.2-million penalty against The Toronto-Dominion Bank for non-compliance with money laundering and terrorist financing measures as the bank also faces compliance investigations in the U.S.
Orangutan observed treating wound using medicinal plant in world first
Scientists working in Indonesia have observed an orangutan intentionally treating a wound on their face with a medicinal plant, the first time this behavior has been documented.
This Canadian restaurant just lowered its prices. Here's how it did it
A Canadian restaurant lowered its prices this week, and though news of price tags dropping rather than climbing sounds unusual, the business strategy in this case is not, according to experts in the field.
Doctors concerned about potential spread of bird flu in Canada
H5N1 or avian flu has been detected at dozens of U.S. dairy farms and Canadian experts are urging surveillance on our side of the border too.
Prince William and Kate release photo of daughter Charlotte to mark ninth birthday
Prince William and his wife Kate released a picture of their daughter Charlotte to mark the princess's ninth birthday on Thursday.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.