[The Epoch Times, January 12, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Tanya, Montreal, Canada) The government of Quebec, Canada, will impose a health contribution (health tax) on adults who refuse to get the new crown (COVID-19) vaccine. Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced the news at a press conference on Tuesday (January 11) afternoon, “There will be a health tax on adults who are not vaccinated for non-medical reasons, and we are here. One more step,” Legault said.
Legault said unvaccinated adults make up 50 per cent of beds in Quebec’s intensive care units, compared with only 10 per cent of Quebec’s population. It’s a huge financial burden for most Quebecers.”
This policy, once implemented, may be the most draconian anti-epidemic measures in Canada since the outbreak. Currently, Quebec is the only province in Canada to have twice imposed a curfew to prevent the spread of the virus.
Legault said the government is working out how to do it, and the amount of the “health tax” to be collected will be “significant” and that “all Quebec adults who refuse to get their first shot in the next few weeks will receive a new health tax bill”.
Last week, the Quebec government also announced that the third booster dose would be included in the vaccine passport. After the announcement, more than 1,000 people protested in downtown Montreal.
As of January 11, the proportion of people who had at least one shot of the vaccine in Quebec was 84.27%, slightly higher than the Canadian national average (82.56%).
Half of reported Covid-19 hospitalizations are not due to Covid-19
Quebec’s daily reported hospitalizations rose to 2,742 on Tuesday, including 255 in intensive care, due to the rapid spread of a variant of the virus, Omicron.
At a briefing on Tuesday, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé said about half of the hospitalizations reported in Quebec were “secondary cases,” meaning patients were initially admitted to the hospital for reasons other than COVID-19. -19, but tested positive for the new coronavirus after being hospitalized.
The same is true for Quebec’s neighboring province of Ontario, where only 56 per cent of reported COVID-19 hospitalizations were for COVID-19, according to Dubey.
Dubey also said that Quebec will reach a critical value of hospital capacity in the next five to 10 days, according to the Quebec Institute of Health and Social Services, “and we should be at a very difficult level within a week.”
Responsible editor: Yi Ke#
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