COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know on Tuesday

• Quebec reported 149 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and four new deaths (none in the last 24 hours). 
• Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 372,109 confirmed cases and 11,156 people have died (a decrease of one because a previous death is no longer attributed to COVID-19).
• There are 263 people in hospital (a decrease of two), including 60 in intensive care (an increase of two). 
• 64,973 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours and 1,990 doses before Monday, for a total of 6,220,734 doses administered in Quebec.
• 75 per cent of Quebecers have received one dose of vaccine, and eight per cent have received two doses.

Premier François Legault is further loosening restrictions in much of the province, allowing residents to gather with another household indoors starting next Monday. 

Montreal, Laval and much of the surrounding area will be downgraded to yellow zones. 

Funerals and weddings with a maximum of 50 people will be allowed, and high school proms will be permitted to take place outdoors with a limit of 250 people. 

Masks off in class

The Health Ministry says elementary and high school students living in orange zones will no longer be obliged to wear masks in the classroom, as of today, until the end of the school year. 

However, students must always wear a mask in common areas, when traveling in the corridors and in school transportation, the says the ministry. Students in yellow and green zones were already allowed to remove their masks.

Teachers in orange zones will still be required to wear masks in accordance with Quebec's workplace health and safety board guidelines.

Staff working in yellow and green zones can remove their masks in the classroom as long as they can maintain a distance of two metres from students. 

Attempts to move up 2nd dose hits snag

Quebecers 75 and over are now eligible to move up their second vaccination appointment through the online booking system Clic Santé.

Younger age groups will be able to do the same in the days and weeks that follow, based on their age at the time of their scheduled appointment.

Walk-ins are also open to people who had their first shot more than eight weeks ago.

For now, the option to move up the second appointment is limited to those who received Pfizer-BioNTech and can only be booked at the same location as the first. People who received Moderna or AstraZeneca-Oxford will have to wait until there are more of those vaccines before being able to do the same.

WATCH | Quebecers with 1st shot of AstraZeneca can opt for different 2nd dose

Quebecers with 1st shot of AstraZeneca can opt for different 2nd dose

CBC News Montreal

2 months ago

1:36

A new delivery of AstraZeneca is set to arrive in the province by mid-June, enough for those who want their second dose, but Quebec's health authorities say people can also decide to go for a different vaccine for their second dose. 1:36

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