People in Canada who are impacted by local measures aimed at curbing the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant will have to wait until 2022 to apply for recently expanded financial support. Capacity restrictions are part of new measures imposed recently in several provinces in response to rapidly rising COVID-19 infections. The same day, the federal government said it's expanding eligibility for the Local Lockdown Program. The expanded eligibility is expected to cost $4 billion, the government said in a release. CBC News reached out to the federal government about when the Local Lockdown Program would open to newly eligible applicants, but had not received a response as of publication.

Source: CBC News December 25, 2021 21:35 UTC