MONTREAL — Quebec has ended the last of the special emergency lockdown measures that were put in place in some regions of the province that were particularly hard-hit by COVID-19.

The measures were in place in some municipalities in the Estrie, Chaudière-Appalaches, and Bas-Saint-Laurent regions, which will now return to the red alert level on the province’s pandemic response system.

That means non-essential businesses can reopen and the evening curfew will move from 8 p.m. to 9:30, as is already the case in most of southern Quebec.

The province’s COVID-19 case numbers continued to trend downwards today with 433 new infections and 11 new deaths, including one in the past 24 hours.

Hospitalizations rose by three to 424, while the number of people in intensive care declined by one to 102.

The curfew will be lifted across the entire province later this week as the province takes a major step towards reopening that will also include allowing restaurant patios to operate, up to eight people to gather outside in backyards, and indoor venues to start welcoming up to 2,500 people at once.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2021

The Canadian Press