Speaking at a press conference in Longueil on Monday afternoon, Premier Francois Legault said that he hopes to present a calendar for the withdrawal of the province’s vaccine passport system on Tuesday afternoon.
“We are following the recommendations of public health,” Legault said, sharing that he’s aware that people are tired of the measures in place but adding that he doesn’t want to take unnecessary risks and end up putting more pressure on the hospital system.
“What we hope is to remove all measures as quickly as possible,” he said, sharing that a meeting was set to take place with public health officials on Monday night.
Asked about the decision on the part of the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act, Legault said that he did not want the decision to hae an effect on Quebec.
“We do not want a federal state of emergency in Quebec,” he said.
The premier referred to the ongoing situation in Ottawa as “almost a siege” but also referred to it as an “Ontario problem,” because he felt the local police had demonstrated an ability to handle similar protest action in the provincial capital last week, and because he doesn’t want to “pour oil on the fire.”
“We are ready to support what needs to be done by the government of Ontario, the federal government and the municipal government in the city of Ottawa,” he noted.
There were 2,095 people in hospital across Quebec on Monday due to Covid-19. That was up 14 from Sunday’s report but still lower than any other time since early January. The number of people with the virus in intensive care, meanwhile, decreased by four to 136, a level comparable to that of the end of December.
The province recorded 17 new deaths linked to Covid, for a total of 13,710 since the start of the pandemic.
The first update from the Eastern Townships since the end of last week showed 104 in hospital, with ten in intensive care, a drop in overall hospitalizations and an increase of two ICU patients.
The region also recorded three more deaths linked to the virus since the last update, bringing the local total to 519.
Subscribe to The Record for the full story and more
