Quebec Is Closing Schools & Non-Essential Businesses In 3 Cities

Curfew will also go back to 8 p.m. in Quebec City, Lévis & Gatineau.

Quebec is putting Quebec City, Lévis and Gatineau "on pause" until April 12, meaning it will close the cities' schools, as well as recently reopened non-essential businesses, such as cinemas and gyms.

Curfew in these three cities will revert back to 8 p.m. for the duration of the pause, Premier François Legault announced in a press conference on March 31. He explained the government "has a lot of concerns" about these areas because the COVID-19 situation is "deteriorating," as cases increase.

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The municipality of Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais will be "on pause" as well.

Legault also announced that four regions — Outaouais, Capitale-Nationale, Chaudière-Appalaches and Bas-Saint-Laurent — are changing from orange zones to red zones on April 1 at 8 p.m. due to an "upward trend" of new cases.

"With the variants, we can see an explosion of cases within a few days. We're ready to act quickly and strongly if the situation worsens in other regions," Legault said.

"We cannot exclude that over the next few days there may be other areas that will be added."