42 new COVID-19 deaths in Quebec as Canada tops 100,000 cases

The following are excerpts from our daily live coronavirus pandemic coverage:

Quebec has recorded 120 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 54,383, the provincial government said Thursday.

Forty-two new deaths were reported. The death toll is now 5,340.

The number of hospitalizations stands at 637, a decrease of 53 from the previous day. Of those in hospital, 65 are in intensive care, a drop of seven.

Across Canada, a grim milestone was reached Thursday as the country topped 100,000 cases. As of late afternoon, there were 100,163 cases and 8,299 deaths.

Quebec, with about 23 per cent of the country’s population, has recorded 54 per cent of Canada’s cases and 64 per cent of its deaths.

Quebecers travelling to and from the Îles-de-la-madeleine will not be allowed to stop in New Brunswick for a meal in a restaurant or a night in a hotel after all, the Quebec government says. After initially saying such stops would be permitted, the province issued a clarification saying Quebecers driving through New Brunswick can only stop in that province to buy gas and takeout food.

Normally eager to attract vacationing Quebecers, Atlantic Canada this year is wary of people from the pandemic’s Canadian epicentre.

In Prince Edward Island — through which Quebecers must also drive to reach the Îles-de-lamadeleine — the Quebec government says Quebecers can only stop for gas. Initially, P.E.I. had said it would not allow any types of stops by Quebecers.

A ferry runs between Souris, P.E.I., and Cap-aux-meules on the Îles-de-la-madeleine.

Some Souris residents are reportedly worried about an influx of Quebecers. In a sign of unease with outsiders, a driver with Nova Scotia plates who visited another part of P.E.I. was taken aback when someone left her a note telling her to “go the bleep back to the mainland,” the CBC reported this week.

Quebecers travelling in both New Brunswick and P.E.I. for the purposes of visiting or returning from the Îles-de-la-madeleine must have with them a “mandatory self-declaration,” as well as a return ticket for the ferry and proof of accommodations.

Part of Quebec, the Îles-dela-madeleine, also known as the Magdalen Islands, are in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The islands are just over 200 kilometres from the Gaspé Peninsula and 100 kilometres from P.E.I.

Public transit agencies in Quebec will get $400 million in emergency financial assistance, the provincial government announced Thursday. Half the money will come from the province, the rest from the federal government. Since the start of the pandemic, transit ridership has plummeted. At the Société de transport de Montréal, it fell by about 75 per cent, the agency reported in March.

Friday will be the last day Montrealers can be tested at mobile testing clinics set up in five Société de transport de Montréal buses. They will end their run in Ahuntsic-cartierville, Anjou,

Côte-st-luc, Lachine and Verdun.

The portable clinics were mobilized in early May to test people in hot spots. Though mobile facilities are closing, eight other testing clinics will remain open across the island. For details, visit the public health website (santemontreal. qc.ca).

The city of Montreal reopened parking lots at several large parks Thursday, including two on Mount Royal.

Now that Quebec has lifted the ban on religious gatherings, Saint Joseph’s Oratory is preparing to reopen, beginning on Monday, June 29. Starting on that day, people can visit the basilica, the crypt, the votive chapel, the boutique and the gardens, the Oratory said in a press release, noting it is taking “extraordinary measures” to ensure all public health directives are followed.

However, masses will not take place at the Oratory for now.