Montreal: Quebec continued with the first of the three planned closures of the non-essential retail store on the week when the provincial government tried to curb a new wave of Covid-19 which was driven by an omicron variant which was very contagious.
Hospitals and health care resources in the North Community of the Remote Quebec and Canada are also being stretched as an exploding letter number.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced last week that most provincial stores will be closed for the following three days, with the exception of pharmacies, all-round stores and gas stations.
Charles Milliard, President of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, urged the government to raise steps as soon as possible.
“The last thing the business needed during these difficult times is an additional limit” Milliard said in a statement.
“We must leave the choice for businesses to open or close at the most sense for them, their employees and their customers.” Closing came when Quebec reported 15,845 new Covid-19 cases, as well as 13 additional deaths related to viruses.
The Ministry of Health said the number of hospitalizations related to disease rose 70 to 1,231.
It was said that 162 people in intensive care, increased nine.
The main hospital network of Quebec City said it would delay half of the medical operations and appointments starting on Wednesday because of a surge in covid patients.
Martin Beaumont, President and CEO of Laval Chu de Quebec-Universite, said at a press conference that as many as 10,000 medical appointments could be postponed, allowing around 50 nurses to also be directed to the pandemic ward.
The hospital network said 783 health workers in isolation, in addition to 600 nurses who had been lost from labor before the fifth wave of the pandemic hit.
Tensions caused by the increasing number of cases are exacerbated in long-distance communities where health care is limited.
The nation First Lake Bearskin, a flying community only in the North Ontario, stated an emergency on December 30 when 43 residents were tested positive for viruses.
On Sunday, 169 people have confirmed or suspected the Covid-19 case, more than 40 percent of the total population.
“It’s a crisis,” said Head of Grand Nishnawbe Aski Nation Derek Fox in an interview.
Lake Bearskin does not have a hospital and is usually served by nursing stations with two nurses.
Emergency evacuation will take more than three hours for aircraft to enter and exit the Sioux Lookout or Thunder Bay, and it’s only if the weather allows it to land.
Federal Fast Response Team with three primary care nurses, paramedics and two environmental health workers landed on the Bears lake on December 30, bringing more testing power with them.
Two public health nurses are sent by the Sioux Lookout Nations First Health Authority.
The outbreak in long-distance communities also affects Nunavut, Northern Quebec and Labrador.
Nunavut confirmed 22 cases of Covid-19 weeks again, bringing a total of 196 in just 10 days.
Nunavut understated all the unimportant trips in the area and had banned trips that were not important to and from several communities, including Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, Arviat, Igloolic and Pangnirtung.
Ban the trip also exists in Nunavik in Northern Quebec until mid-January, with only a critical or essential trip that is allowed to enter or exit 14 villages in the region.