Montreal set to open stores and daycares over next two weeks

Quebec Premier Francois Legault said on Monday that retail stores will be allowed to open on May 25, with daycares opening one week later, on June 1.

Legault has warned that although daycares will be reopened, they will only operate at 50 percent capacity.

Speaking to reporters, the premier said that he was making this decision after seeing that the coronavirus situation was improving in Quebec's largest city.

Quebec, and Montreal in particular, have been hit hard by coronavirus, becoming the largest hotspot in Canada. So far, Quebec has suffered 42,900 cases of the virus, vastly outnumbering the cases in the second worst hit province, Ontario.

More than half of all Canadian coronavirus cases have been in Quebec, with over 3,500 deaths in the province. In Canada as a whole, slightly over 5,800 people have died of the virus.

Having said this, there has been some improvement in la belle province. Only 34 new deaths were announced on Monday, which is the lowest figure Quebec has recorded in over a month.

"I also want to ask Quebecers to be very careful," said Legault. "We need to follow public health instructions if we don't want to go back and have to put the brakes on the reopening."

Legault also suggested that if enough people don't wear masks he would consider making it mandatory.