Sharjah24 – AFP: Quebec will reinstate measures in bars, restaurants and stores to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the province's premier Francois Legault said Thursday.
Citing a "critical" situation, he also asked provincial residents to limit private gatherings during the holidays to a maximum of 10 people.
After the winter vacations, high schools and universities will switch to virtual learning for at least a week.
And from Monday, stores, bars, restaurants, theaters, places of worship and sports venues will have to reduce crowds to 50 percent of capacity. Sports competitions in the province will be put on hold.
Dance clubs and karaoke bars will have to close, only a few weeks after they were allowed to reopen.
At least 3,700 new cases were recorded on Thursday, surpassing the previous daily caseload record set in January, authorities said.
"I think that nobody, a few weeks ago, would have said that we would have 3,700 cases today," said Legault, who as recently as Tuesday had said it would be possible for groups of 20 people to gather for the Christmas holiday.
The Quebec vaccination campaign will be sped up, reducing the interval between the second dose and the booster from six months to three. But boosters are still not yet available to all age groups, as was announced Wednesday in neighboring Ontario, the most populous province in Canada.
The outbreak linked to the new variant has spread globally, and more European nations are implementing travel restrictions.
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