From Quebec City to Montreal, nearly everything is now in the COVID-19 red zone
Health Minister Christian Dubé announced Thursday that nearly every municipality between the Montreal region and the Quebec City area along the St. Lawrence river are now considered red zones.
New, stricter measures will soon be enacted, along with police checkpoints to protect other zones, such as Lac Saint-Jean.
Restaurants, bars and other restricted businesses will close on Saturday while masks will be required at all times in high schools starting Wednesday of next week.
New red zones include Bécancour, Nicolet-Yamaska, Drummond, Portneuf as well as the city of Trois-Rivières.
"Our role is to stay ahead of the wave as much as we can," Dubé said. "That's why we are making these difficult decisions."
The health minister is encouraging all Quebecers to do their part to "break the wave" this weekend.
Quebec's director of public health, Dr. Horacio Arruda, said people should stay home this weekend and for the rest of the month.
"If all Quebecers decrease their social contacts over the next 14 days, we will see a decrease in the number of new infections, guaranteed," he said.
For a complete list of which areas are now in the red zone, Quebec provides a website.
