Quebec is changing the start time for the overnight curfew in Montreal and other areas under red alert.
At a press conference this afternoon, Premier François Legault announced the curfew in Montreal will run from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m., starting tomorrow (March 17).
The announcement comes just days after Daylight Saving Time and with the days getting longer and weather getting warmer, the news to ease the restrictions did not come as a surprise.
Last Saturday, we changed hours which means it’s brighter later,” said Legault. “Because of the advanced hour, we want to have a stroll outside in the evening.”
In addition, theatres and performance halls will be allowed to reopen in red zones as of March 26, the same day gyms will reopen across the province.
Legault went on to say he expects the vaccination of people 65 and over to be completed within a month and all Quebecers who want to be vaccinated will be able to get the first dose by June 24, St-Jean-Baptiste Day.
Legault also announced that secondary three, four, and five students in Quebec's orange zones will be able to return to class daily as of March 22.
Finally, Cote-Nord, Nord-du-Quebec, and Gaspesie-Iles-de-la-Madeleine will be reclassified as yellow zones.
Quebec’s curfew went into effect on January 8, becoming the first Canadian province to enforce the nightly rules.
The daily average increase of new COVID-19 cases in the province for the last seven days is now 700.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 298,747 people have caught the virus in the province of Quebec, and 281,436 have recovered.
