COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know on Thursday

The latest:

• Quebec has 52,143confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4,885people have died as of Thursday, an increase of 259cases and 91deaths from a day earlier.
• There are1,076people in hospital(a decrease of 65),including 146in intensive care (a decrease of 12).Here's aguideto the numbers.
• The province is allowing training forteam sportslike soccer and baseball to resume, but there will be no games, for now, and players will have practise physical distancing.
• With schools in theMontreal area closed until September, Quebec is considering setting up acatch-up summer schoolforstruggling students.
• The City of Montreal is feeling thefinancial impact of COVID-19, and MayorValrie Planteis calling on the provinceand federal governments for help.
• Thenew programto recruit 10,000 orderlies for understaffed CHSLDs is proving popular.

Soccer and baseball players in Quebecwill be able to startpractising theirsports by June 8, but they won't be able to play competitively until the end of the month and even then, they won't be playing by the rules they're used to.

"Sports will not be played the same way this summer. We have to be conscious that there will be a lot of adaptation," said Isabelle Charest, the minister responsible for sports, Thursday.

Supervised activities such as outdoor yoga will also be allowed as of June 8, and pools in places such as private campgrounds will also be allowed to open on that date.

Until Thursday's announcement,Quebec had only opened the door to non-contact outdoor sports practised alone or in small groups, such as cycling, rock-climbing,singles tennis and golf.

• More:Quebecers can play team sports again as long as they're physically distancing

Fast-tracking projects

The Quebec government wants to get major infrastructureprojects back up and running, putting more people back to work, in an effort to relaunch the province's economynearly three months intothe COVID-19 crisis.

If passed, Bill 61, the stimulus package tabledWednesday by Treasury Board PresidentChristian Dub, will allow the government to bypasssome of the usualchecks and balancesfor major spending projects, to get them off the ground as soon as possible.

The proposed legislationstreamlines some of the provisionsunder Quebec's Environment QualityAct, in order toobtain speedy authorizationto move ahead with certain projects, and allowsgovernment ministries to move ahead quickly with the expropriation of property.

• More: Quebec to boost economy by taking shortcuts to fast-forward on infrastructure projects

Students with special needs being invited toschool-like 'camps'

While most high school students in Quebec are set to remain at home until September, somestudents with special needs will be invited to attend what the province's Education Ministry is calling a "pedagogical camp."

The three-week-longcamps will be held at high schools, which have remained closed since mid-March, as well as at elementary schools in the greater Montreal region which have yet to reopen.

Quebec's Ministry of Education provided general instructions to school boards in a four-paragraph letter dated June 1, which indicates the camps must be operating by the week of June 8.

• More: Questions about Quebec's 'pedagogical camps'

Other info you should know

• Federal transport minister expands required use of face masks on planes, trains, ships and transit
• VIDEO|Clearer answers about hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19 emerging