Quebec public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda announced Friday that the province will be reinstating daily COVID-19 updates as of Monday.
On Wednesday, Quebec said it would end daily updates this Friday and, starting July 2, would only release weekly numbers on coronavirus cases, tests and deaths.
Arruda pointed to a stabilization of the epidemiological situation as the reason why health officials would only be providing weekly updates.
The move caught many by surprise and led to public outcry.
Some, including Prime Justin Trudeau, expressed concern surrounding the issue of transparency.
“In Quebec, there are still a significant number of cases every single day and a significant number of deaths every single day,” Trudeau said on Thursday.
“I certainly hope Premier Legault would continue to be transparent and open with Quebecers and, indeed, all Canadians as he has been from the very beginning.”
On Friday, Arruda said he and Christian Dubé , the newly-minted health minister, had changed their minds and didn’t want to give the appearance of withholding information.
“We both agreed that it might be better to publish them, especially since people were asking for them,” he said.
“It’s really not for reasons of lack of transparency. We have nothing to hide. We had no intention of manipulating the data during the week.”
Arruda indicated he wasn’t expecting the backlash.
“I probably under-evaluate the impact,” he said. I was thinking that people don’t want to hear about COVID-19 anymore but that’s not the case, so let’s adjust.”
Dubé took to social media Friday afternoon saying they had heard the backlash. He also defended the government’s handling of the situation.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, our government has always been transparent and we will continue.”
— With files from Global’s Katie Dangerfield
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