COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know Monday
CBC
Note: Quebec's vaccination rate has been adjusted to include five- to 11-year-olds, causing the overall percentage to drop. Vaccinations for the group began on Wednesday.
Quebec's Health Ministry does not publish the number of vaccines administered on weekends and public holidays.
Canada has detected its first two cases of the omicron COVID-19 variant in Ottawa, the Ontario government announced Sunday.
Both cases were reported in people who recently travelled from Nigeria, according to the Ontario government's statement.
The news comes two days after the country implemented new travel restrictions on foreign nationals who had visited several countries in southern Africa over the preceding two weeks.
The omicron variant was first identified by South African researchers and has provoked global concern.
In a statement released Sunday, Canada's Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the confirmation of two omicron cases is a signal that the country's monitoring system is working but to expect more cases of the variant.
In a tweet Sunday, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé said the ministry is following the situation closely with the province's public health department (INSPQ) to observe the evolution of the variant in the province.
The Public Health Agency of Canada said border measures could change as the situation develops.
Musicians can once again perform in the Metro, starting today. For the first time in 20 months, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) has authorized only five locations where musicians can play: three at Berri-UQAM, one at Guy-Concordia and one at Jean-Talon station.
Artists will have to reserve a two-hour time slot online and wear a mask when performing unless they're playing a wind instrument.
For those under the age of five, Canada's chief public health officer Theresa Tam said vaccinations could potentially start as early as the new year.
Speaking to Radio-Canada, Tam said that clinical trials are currently underway for children aged six months to five years old. She said she hopes to see the results of the those trials by the end of the year.
As one of the last remaining portions of the population to get vaccinated, kids will play an important role in ending the pandemic, health experts say.
At a time when Canada is vastly expanding its child-care system, and just eight months after a major E. coli outbreak in Calgary child-care centres, an Alberta Health Services analysis shows the province is lagging in its rate of daycare inspections, falling far short of its guideline of at least two inspections per year at each of the province's licensed daycare centres.