Quebec Just Announced That Basically Everything Can Reopen, With Only 3 Exceptions (VIDEO)

Public health officials have announced that just about everything in Quebec can reopen. National Public Health Director Dr. Horacio Arruda and Montreal's Regional Public Health Director, Mylène Drouin, shared the news on Thursday afternoon. The only exceptions, Arruda said, are for festivals and large events, sleepaway camps, and combat sports, which are all still not allowed to resume. Other businesses, like bars, amusement parks, and casinos, are set to reopen to the public as of June 25. 

"From today, all sectors that are still confined can resume their activities under certain conditions," Dr. Arruda said, also highlighting the three exceptions.

Since the pandemic began, bars, like almost every other public business in Quebec, closed according to health and safety regulations. 

Though the government gradually resumed the economy over the past month, bars were left out of the initial plan.

This prompted bar owners in the province to petition the government to lift some restrictions regarding alcohol take-out. 

After months of confinement, it's gradually starting to look like a normal summer in the city. 

For the past few weeks, the province's businesses have been reopening to the public. Retail shops, followed by hairdressers and nail salons, were some of the first to open their doors.

On June 22, restaurants reopened in the Montreal metropolitan area. Malls reopened to the public on June 19.

Beaches and public facilities such as vacation rentals and campsites have also resumed activities. 

But despite the new reopenings, Arruda also raised concerns about the emergence of new cases.

He stated that he's "convinced" a second wave of COVID-19 will hit Quebec but said so far the deconfinement process has gone well.

He affirmed that all health officials and experts in the province will continue to track how deconfinement will go, however.

"There is still a big need to be careful," he said.

The two-metre social-distancing requirement will remain in place, as will public health recommendations like regular, vigorous hand-washing.

Also on Thursday, the government of Quebec released its final daily COVID-19 numbers update.

From now on, these numbers will be published weekly.

Quebec Liberal Party leader Dominique Anglade called the decision "incomprehensible."

"We are choosing less transparency when we should do the opposite," she wrote in a tweet.

On June 25, Quebec recorded 142 new cases of COVID-19 with another six deaths.