Premier Doug Ford has announced that a province-wide lockdown will start Saturday.
“We are asking all Ontarians to stay at home unless absolutely necessary for appointments, work, or groceries.”
The restrictions will be in place for 28 days in southern Ontario, and 14 days in northern Ontario.
He notes that despite restrictions, officials have seen a growing number of people travelling within Ontario.
Ford added that for those in yellow and green zones, they would be at risk with those travelling in from other restricted areas.
Students will have an extended holiday break. Schools will be welcoming students from Kindergarten to Grade 8 back in the classroom on January 11.
In-person learning for high school students will start back up on January 25.
“Our hospitals are filling up more each day. We’ve seen a 70% increase in hospitals and 80% increase in ICU admissions in the past few weeks,” said Ford.
He notes that any given time, 75% of ICU beds are taken up due to other emergencies like heart attacks and car accidents.
The announcement comes as health officials report 2,123 new cases of the virus, and 17 more deaths related.
There are 265 people across the province with COVID-19 fighting in ICU. The province announced earlier today, that new modelling suggests that the number could increase to over 300 within the next 10 days. The worst-case scenario is being projected as over 1,500 in ICU by the middle of January.
The modelling also suggested that by the end of next month, Ontario could see roughly 6,000 new cases daily.
Health Minister Christine Elliot says there are 611 new cases in Toronto, 480 in Peel, and 192 in York Region. Hamilton joined Windsor-Essex and those regions this morning in the grey-lockdown zone. Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox, Addington Public Health moved to the orange zone.
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health reported over the weekend about COVID-19 exposure. Visitors to Peterson Orthodontics in Belleville between December 14 to 16 are being advised to monitor for symptoms. Health officials say that those visitors are considered to have low-risk exposure to the virus.
Over in Prince Edward County, health officials announced that two cases of COVID-19 have been linked to the Legion in Wellington. HPEPH noted that people who attended the legion between November 30 to December 18, are considered to have high-risk exposure. Those individuals have been asked to self-isolate, as get a test as soon as possible.
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health is reporting two new cases of the virus today. There are a total of 30 active cases in Hastings and Prince Edward counties. The seven day case rate per 100,000 people is to 17.2.
Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit is reporting a spike in Northumberland County. There are 16 new cases today, bringing the total number of active cases to 49.
Comments