COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know Wednesday
CBC
Quebec's Health Ministry does not publish the number of vaccines administered on weekends and public holidays.
Premier François Legault will be holding a news conference tonight at 6 p.m., as Quebec continues to break daily case records and the Omicron variant spreads across the province.
Health Minister Christian Dubé and public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda will also be in attendance.
In a tweet, Legault said the province is now facing some "difficult decisions," just days after announcing sweeping restrictions to public life, including shutting down schools, bars and movie theatres.
According to sources speaking to Radio-Canada, Quebec will report over 6,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.
About 80 per cent of those cases will likely be the Omicron variant, according to Quebec's public health institute, the INSPQ.
The press conference will be carried live on CBC Radio and CBC Montreal News at 6.
Quebec has requested support from the Canadian Armed Forces to help with vaccinations.
The province is also preparing for an expected spike in hospitalizations due to the Omicron variant.
Part of the plan is to postpone half of scheduled surgeries to free up space in hospitals, which have been decimated by acute staff shortages, according to Radio-Canada.
Quebec's Health Ministry has also requested help from the Red Cross, according to Radio-Canada.
The hope is that the organization will be able to send specialized teams to work in infection-control in institutions struggling with COVID. The specialized teams were called in to help in the spring of 2020, when the first wave of COVID was overwhelming many of Quebec's long-term care homes.
The Omicron variant is now the dominant coronavirus strain circulating in Quebec, according to the province's public health institute, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ).
Omicron now accounts for about 80 per cent of cases in the province, the INSPQ said in a news release this afternoon.
