Photographer: Cole Burston / Bloomberg
Photographer: Cole Burston / Bloomberg
Ontario will soon implement other Covid-19 restrictions, with a focus on the hardest hit areas as a deadly strain of coronavirus increases in Canada’s most populous province.
The new measures will aim to curb the spread of the virus in Toronto and the suburban regions of Peel and York, which account for about 60 percent of new infections, Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford said Tuesday. press. Details will be revealed Wednesday, he said.
“Last week we made a big move by basically closing the entire province,” Ford said. “We will have more restrictions moving very quickly.”
The Ontario cabinet is meeting this afternoon to discuss options, including the possibility of a new order to stay home, CTV News reports, citing sources.
Efforts to stifle the latest rise will target large business owners and residents in hot areas from viruses, Ford said Tuesday. Last month, the Peel region ordered Amazon.com Inc. close a warehouse for two weeks because the infection rate increased significantly.
School closures
Local health authorities have increasingly thwarted Ford’s efforts to contain the virus, especially around education. Turned on On Tuesday, Toronto Public Health followed the Peel and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph regions by closing schools to face-to-face learning until April 18th. Ford has resisted returning students to remote learning, saying they are safer in schools.
Ontario reported 3,065 new cases and eight deaths on Tuesday. The main variant the spread in Ontario (known as B.1.1.7) is 50% more lethal than previous strains, officials said. The province is moving into a second phase of its vaccination campaign, which includes inoculating essential workers who cannot work from home, people with high-risk health conditions and communities disproportionately affected by the virus.
Last week, Ford imposed stricter measures in Ontario even though it stopped placing an order to stay home. Restaurants, which had been allowed to reopen for al fresco dining just a week earlier, were restricted to food and delivery orders. Supermarkets and pharmacies were ordered to operate at 50% capacity and other retailers were asked to reduce capacity to 25%.
“It’s changing day by day, hour by hour, and we need to be prepared to adapt as we see problems arise,” Ford said Tuesday.
In neighboring Quebec, the government also tightened restrictions that had recently been moderated on schools and gyms in Montreal and some other regions.
The move is preventative, in anticipation that varying cases will increase, Prime Minister Francois Legault said on Tuesday.
“April will be the month of all dangers,” he said.
According to Canada, Canada has completely inoculated 2.7% of its population Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker and vaccine at a slower pace than its US neighbors
– With the assistance of Sandrine Rastello
(Updates with changes to Quebec policy in paragraph 11)