Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante declared a state of emergency as the number of COVID-19 cases skyrocketed in the city.
“Just yesterday, Montreal recorded 1,455 new COVID cases,” he said during a Zoom news conference on Tuesday.
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Under a state of emergency, the city has exceptional powers to free up resources to deal with the crisis in question, he said.
“With the announcement made by Quebec yesterday, the city is giving itself the means to protect its essential workers while maintaining public services,” Plante said.
On Monday, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé announced the closure of schools, gyms, cinemas and bars, among other restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.
“The Omicron variant forces us to take extra precautions and be more vigilant,” Plante said.
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Quebec closes schools, bars and gyms as COVID-19 cases rise
A previous state of emergency in Montreal, which lasted 17 months, was lifted on August 27.
At the time, officials cited high vaccination rates, along with Quebec’s upcoming vaccine passport system, to allow the city to go from state of emergency to alert mode.
More to come.
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