By Kim Mackrael

The Canadian province of Quebec announced sweeping new restrictions on Thursday in an effort to combat a rapid rise in Covid-19 cases associated with the more transmissible Omicron variant.

Officials in Quebec said they would impose an overnight curfew requiring most residents to stay in their homes between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. beginning on Friday. The province is also closing restaurant dining rooms, officials said, and pushing back the timeline for when schools can reopen to Jan. 17. Bars, casinos and cinemas were ordered to close earlier in December.

"We're in a situation that is the worst of the 22 months of the pandemic," Premier François Legault said. The daily number of new Covid-19 cases being reported in Quebec, which is at a record level, underestimates the true spread of the disease and there is a risk that hospitals in the province could become overwhelmed, he said.

Other jurisdictions, including many U.S. states, have taken a less restrictive approach to the Omicron surge in recent weeks, saying they are better equipped to deal with a rise in Covid-19 cases now that many people have been vaccinated. Officials also want to avoid the economic damage that past lockdowns have caused.

Ontario, Canada's most populous province, said Thursday that schools could resume on Jan. 5 and spectator events could continue at a reduced capacity. However, the province said Ontario's testing capacity is so stretched that publicly funded polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests for Covid-19 will be limited to specific categories of individuals, such as symptomatic healthcare workers and people at risk of severe illness.

Canada has among the highest rates of vaccination in the world, with more than 76% of its population considered fully vaccinated, according to the government. However, its rollout of booster doses has been slower than some of its developed-world counterparts, including the United Kingdom and Germany.

Write to Kim Mackrael at kim.mackrael@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 30, 2021 19:10 ET (00:10 GMT)