Quebec Government Workers Will Self-Isolate After Foreign Trips

(Bloomberg) -- Quebec took drastic steps to slow down the coronavirus outbreak, asking residents of the Canadian province to quarantine themselves after any foreign trip and making a 14-day self-isolation mandatory for government workers.

Premier Francois Legault urged the province of 8.5 million people to get into emergency mode, predicting the crisis will last for months. He also pledged financial support to employers facing liquidity problems. Events of 250 people or more should be canceled, he said.

The self-isolation order applies to workers in daycares, clinics or schools, whether in the public or private sectors, Legault said.

“For the moment the pandemic is under control,” Legault said during a press conference Thursday. “The next few weeks will be critical and our goal is to slow down the virus spread to the maximum.”

Ontario, the largest province, said it would close all public schools through April 5.

While Quebec counts only 13 confirmed cases, including two in the hospital, it’s joining a long list of governments and employers taking precautionary measures to fight the spread of the contagious disease. The government pledged to announce financial aid in coming days as the pandemic, combined with tanking oil prices, threatens to push Canada into recession.

Read: Recession Calls Mount in Canada on Double Hit from Virus and Oil

Quebec’s measures go further than other provinces, including British Columbia and Ontario, where the tally is higher. Canada counted at least 103 cases as of Wednesday, compared with 1,370 in the U.S. Ontario said it is setting up dedicated screening centers and will expand lab testing capacity.

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