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Quebec to make masks mandatory in high school classrooms in highest COVID alert areas

Directive begins today and will continue until at least Oct. 28
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A health-care worker takes people’s details as they wait to be tested for COVID-19 at a clinic in Montreal, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020, as the pandemic continues in Canada and around the world. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Quebec is making mask-wearing mandatory in classrooms for high school students in regions at the highest COVID-19 alert level.

Education Minister Jean-Francois Roberge said today the new directive will enter into effect on Thursday and remain until at least Oct. 28.

The mask-wearing order is among a series of new public health measures that Roberge says aims to ensure students, teachers and school staff are safe amid a recent increase in COVID-19 cases in Quebec.

The greater Montreal and Quebec City areas, as well as the Chaudiere-Appalaches region south of the provincial capital, are at the highest COVID-19 alert level.

Earlier today, the province reported 1,191 new COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day total since the beginning of the pandemic.

That brings the total number of confirmed cases in the province to 79,650.

Health officials reported two deaths in the past 24-hours attributed to the novel coronavirus, and four that they said occurred at earlier dates, bringing the province’s death toll to 5,884.

The Canadian Press


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