Quebec's Curfew Will Officially Be Lifted On Monday

Premier François Legault has officially confirmed that Quebec's province-wide curfew will be lifted on Monday — which means no more scrambling to get home on time while risking fines.

At a press conference on Thursday, Legault said, "The reason we did this was to stop the exponential growth of the number of infections and then the number of hospitalizations. So given that we seem to have reached a peak, that permits us to remove the curfew."

This curfew has been ongoing for almost two weeks, implemented on New Year's Eve, and has required Quebecers to stay inside between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. unless exempt.

However, it wasn't Quebec's only curfew experience. The province's first curfew lasted more than four months, from January 9 to May 28, 2021. That curfew initially extended even to unhoused Quebecers until a superior court judge weeks later ordered a new exemption for the unhoused population, saying the rule had "a discriminatory and disproportionate effect" on them.

Quebec reported 8,793 new COVID-19 cases on January 13. Hospitalizations increased by a net 117 patients for a total of 2,994, including 272 in intensive care, a net increase of nine. The province also officially introduced a "level five" protocol for hospital capacity, with a total of 3,493 hospital beds dedicated to patients with COVID-19.

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