COVID-19 pandemic in Montreal

The COVID-19 pandemic in Montreal is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Until April 2021, Montreal was the worst affected health region in Canada. Despite being surpassed by Toronto in total number of cases, Montreal still has the highest total death count and the highest death rate in Canada, with the death rate from COVID-19 being two times higher on the island of Montreal than in the city of Toronto due in large part to substantial outbreaks in long-term care homes. Montreal is Canada's second most populous city, the largest city in Quebec, and the eighth most populous city in North America. Montreal confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on February 27, 2020. The patient was a 41-year-old woman who had returned from Iran three days earlier on a flight from Doha, Qatar. In early March 2020, the closure of public spaces, including stores, gyms, shopping malls, and schools, began. On March 27, with nearly 1,000 confirmed cases, Montreal declared a state of emergency. The first wave of COVID-19 lasted until early summer, at which point the economy started to gradually reopen, with daily case counts dropping into the double digits. In September 2020, facing the possibility of a second wave, the Quebec government announced a colour-coded alert level system made up of four zones (green, yellow, orange, and red), with restrictions being least severe in green zones and most severe in red zones. On September 30, Montreal was placed in the red zone. Over the next few months, the second wave continued to worsen, prompting renewed closures and eventually, a province-wide lockdown, which came into effect on December 25 (Christmas Day). On January 9, a curfew came into effect. The lockdown ended a month later, allowing for non-essential businesses to reopen. In December 2020, the vaccination campaign began, starting with residents of long-term care homes and healthcare workers.