Quebec confirms first case of Omicron variant

“A first case of the Omicron variant has been confirmed in Quebec,” says Health Minister Christian Dubé as he updated the province’s COVID-19 situation on Monday.

Dubé says 115 people who recently travelled to the province, principally from countries in southern Africa, have been asked to take a PCR test and to isolate.

Ontario reported Canada’s first two cases of the Omicron variant of concern on the weekend. The province said today the two infected people were recently in Nigeria and were tested for the virus in Montreal before travelling on to Ottawa.

Dubé said that for now, not enough is known about the new variant to say what impact it might have on the health of the population, or whether the province will need to bring in new restrictions to control it.

“I don’t want to worry people, but at the same time, I want us to be very aware of what is happening,” he said in Montreal.

Dubé explained it would take about two weeks for experts to better evaluate the new variant.

While the government is not immediately tightening health restrictions, he warned that the situation could change rapidly, especially for Quebecers who are travelling or planning to do so.

“We need to be prudent, and if you don’t need to travel, I would avoid those travels if they’re not necessary,” he said.

“We have to learn to live with this virus, we must not relax our good practices, respect health measures, get vaccinated, and get tested at the slightest symptoms,” continued Dubé. “The next few weeks will be critical, you heard me say that may times. This is really true.”

Dubé saying there are still “many unvaccinated people who contract the virus. It’s never too late to get vaccinated and the Omicron variant is one more reason to.”

With the holidays, gatherings in houses are still limited to 10 people, reminded the health minister.

#WATCH: “A first case of the Omicron variant has been confirmed in Quebec,” says Health Minister Christian Dubé as he updated the province’s #COVID19 situation on Monday.
 
“The next few weeks will be critical.”
 
For more:https://t.co/pc7k5QTRc3 pic.twitter.com/xYKhbY7PpO

— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) November 29, 2021

People over 70 and those who got two shots of the AstraZenaca vaccine, can get their booster shots.

Quebec reporting 756 new COVID-19 cases and two more deaths. The province seeing a 29% increase in new cases over the last week.

COVID-19-related hospitalizations jumped by 10 patients from the day before, to 226, after 22 people entered hospital and 12 were discharged. The number of people in intensive care dropped by three, to 45.

Meanwhile, children in the province between the ages of five and 11 started to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in schools today, one week after the vaccine campaign for that age cohort began at mass vaccination centres.

Health officials say 22,048 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours, the vast majority of them to children.