At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Regional Public Health Director Dr. Mylène Drouin gave an update on the status of the second COVID-19 wave in Montreal.

She made clear that though "all the territories" of the region "are touched" by the current increase in cases, three "hotspots," Montréal-Nord, Outremont, and the Centre-Sud, are seeing a higher "incident rate."

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The increase is accelerating everywhere.

Montreal Regional Public Health Director Dr. Mylène Drouin

Public Health is "deploying specific interventions" in those areas.

In the west, by contrast, "indicators are more in the orange zone," according to Drouin.

Both she and Mayor Valérie Plante urged everyone in the region to follow all public health rules.

Drouin also asked Montrealers to be "more vigilant" as infections spread to more vulnerable populations.

"We see higher incident rates in the 18-34 group of age [...] But what we are also seeing is that the proportion of cases [among] the elders, 65 years old and older, is increasing rapidly," the director said.

"We will have to live with COVID-19 for a long period — several months and maybe a year," Drouin concluded. "We have to reintegrate the basic measures [like] keeping our two metres, reducing our contacts, washing our hands."

"We can [get] through this by being united and by making a collective effort."

"It has to work."