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 8, as of 5 pm ET:

Quebec reports 13 new coronavirus deaths and over 80 more cases

The Quebec government revealed that the province’s COVID-19 death toll has reached 5,603 after announcing 13 more deaths and 82 known cases since Tuesday morning.

According to Santé Quebec, there are now 56,079 cases in the province, 331 hospitalizations, down 16 from Tuesday, and 27 patients in the ICU.

Currently, a reported 599,042 tests have turned up negative throughout Quebec and over 25,000 cases have been resolved.

Coronavirus data map shows importance of Canada-US border closure

A COVID-19 data map reveals the importance of the border closure between Canada and the US, as cases south of the border continue to rise.

The Canada-US border remains closed until July 21 for all non-essential travel, but as cases continue to rise significantly south of the border, having the border remain closed for longer may be necessary.

Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering made the COVID-19 Dashboard publicly available and published a map that tracks the coronavirus infections globally.

Federal budget deficit to total $343.2 billion: finance minister

The federal budget deficit for the 2021 fiscal year will total $343.2 billion — 10 times greater than the previous year’s deficit.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau provided a federal economic snapshot until March 31, 2021 (the end of the fiscal year), in the House of Commons Wednesday morning.

“The temporary measures implemented through the government’s economic response plan will have a significant impact on the federal deficit,” says a release from the Government of Canada.

Air Canada looking to explore rapid coronavirus testing

Air Canada is exploring the use of a new form of COVID-19-testing technology to use in the aviation sector.

Air Canada announced on Wednesday it is engaging with Spartan Bioscience Inc., an Ottawa-based biotechnology leader in portable DNA testing technology, to assess how to deploy portable testing tech going forward.

Two Americans charged after breaking Canada’s quarantine laws

Two Americans were charged after crossing the Canadian border and failing to quarantine.

According to Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the two individuals entered the country from the United States through the Fort Frances port of entry on June 24, 2020.

They were told to drive to their destination and quarantine there for 14 days by the Canada Border Services Agency.

Canada’s restaurant industry will take over a year to recover financially: survey

Food service businesses across the country continue to operate at a loss due to the pandemic, and many could take up to 18 months to return to profitability.

This is according to a new survey conducted by Restaurants Canada — a not-for-profit that represents the nation’s food industry — wherein food joints shared how many months they expect it will take for their business to recover.