Coronavirus: Everything you need to know in Montreal today

Every day in Canada, a lot of news regarding COVID-19 comes out nationally and locally.

And for now, we will be putting together Montreal and Canada’s top headlines daily to help you digest the news in one place.

Throughout the day, you can see all the headlines in real-time here.

Top coronavirus stories for July 21, as of 5 pm ET:

Quebec reports biggest daily coronavirus case increase in 5 weeks

The Quebec government revealed that the province’s COVID-19 death toll has reached 5,658 after announcing one more death and 180 new known cases since Monday morning.

According to Santé Quebec, there are now 57,796 cases in the province, 232 hospitalizations, and 15 patients in the ICU.

Currently, a reported 706,808 tests have turned up negative throughout Quebec, and over 30,000 cases have been resolved.

Majority of Canadian parents want kids to wear face masks in schools: poll

Almost two-thirds of parents recently polled said they want their children returning to school in the fall to wear masks, at least part of the time.

According to the latest poll on the COVID-19 pandemic by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies, 41% of parents surveyed believe school children should be required to wear masks while they’re on the bus or in the school.

And 21% said masks should be worn but only outside during recess, lunch, and if on a school bus.

The City of Montreal renews its state of emergency

In accordance with the Civil Protection Act, Montreal’s executive committee has renewed the state of emergency for at least five more days for the Montreal metropolitan area.

The state of emergency, which was originally declared on March 27, grants “exceptional powers to the agglomeration,” enabling it to respond to the current pandemic across its territory.

Specifically, it gives Montreal executives the opportunity to take swift actions to deal with the ongoing pandemic.

Several more hand sanitizers are being recalled by Health Canada

Health Canada has recalled more hand sanitizers, in addition to those previously pulled from shelves, as they may pose risks to health.

Canadians are advised to stop using the below sanitizers, which contain technical-grade ethanol, are not compliant with federal regulations, and may pose health risks:

Montreal reports over 90 new coronavirus cases and 0 new deaths

Montreal public health authorities have updated the city’s COVID-19-related numbers, confirming 92 new cases and zero deaths in the past 24 hours.

There are now 28,167 known cases in Quebec’s largest city and 3,434 total deaths.

As of July 21, Montreal accounts for 48.7% of Quebec’s total cases and 60.9% of its coronavirus-related deaths.

This year’s Just For Laughs festival will be held virtually

With theatres and large-crowd assemblies up in the air, Just For Laughs has announced it will be moving this year’s festivals to the fall.

In April, the world-renowned comedy festival announced it would postpone the scheduled July laugh-a-thon to the fall but has now opted to go completely virtual.

Just For Laughs will be held on JFL’s new online portal from October 9 and October 10, and its sister festival, Juste pour rire, will virtually take place from September 29 to October 10.

Champlain Bridge will light up in rainbow colours for the rest of the month

The Samuel De Champlain Bridge will continue to show rainbow-colours of support to Montrealers and Canadians until the end of July.

Infrastructure Canada has announced the Champlain Bridge will light up every Sunday from 9:30 pm to 10:30 pm until at least the end of this month.

Officials remind people to respect public health’s directives including the need to avoid gatherings.