Quebec Restaurant Dining Rooms Are Going To Reopen On Monday

The time has finally come! During a press conference on Tuesday, Premier François Legault made the exciting announcement that Quebec restaurant dining rooms can reopen as of Monday, January 31.

But, of course, there will be restrictions.

Restaurants in the province are only allowed to operate at 50% capacity and a maximum of "four people or two bubbles" are permitted to sit together per table.

The vaccine passport will also be mandatory to enter these establishments.

This new rule is similar to another announcement made during Tuesday's press conference: indoor gatherings are allowed again as of Monday, with the same limit of four people or two households.

Legault started the press conference by referencing his favourite metaphor about finding the “light at the end of the tunnel.”

In good news, the premier claimed we have finally “left the tunnel.”

According to Legault, the reason behind this gradual loosening of restrictions is that the government noticed the measures in place have started to affect "Quebecers' mental health."

Quebec reported 272 hospital admissions and 293 releases on January 25, for a net drop of 21 and a total of 3,278 hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.

Since the January 20 COVID-19 report, the number of hospitalizations in the province has slowly fallen after a record-breaking climb in the first half of January.

The latest projections from the Institut national d'excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS), released on January 20, suggest that daily hospital intakes could drop to around 200 by the end of the first week in February while the number of total hospitalizations falls to around 3,000.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.