The province has extended emergency orders to July 29.
The move comes as Doug Ford’s government prepares to pass legislation that would allow Ontario to continue creating and enforcing measures after the state of emergency has expired.
Ontario first declared a state of emergency in response to the pandemic on March 17. It is currently in effect until July 24.
“Although the trends in public health indicators continue to improve, we must remain on our guard and only relax emergency orders if and when safe to do so,” said Premier Doug Ford.
“By following our gradual plan to reopen the province, we are seeing people get back to work and resume many activities safely. We do not want to undo the tremendous progress we have made together, so I urge everyone to stay the course and follow public health advice.”
Though many more businesses will reopen this Friday as much of the province enters stage 3 of the reopening plan, emergency orders temporary pandemic pay, workers redeployment in long-term care homes, banning price gouging, capping electricity prices, among others, remain in effect.
Gyms, playgrounds, cinemas and dine-in restaurants will be allowed to start reopening in July 17 everywhere except the Greater Toronto Area and parts of Southern Ontario.
Ontario continues to see a downward trend in new COVID-19 infections, but single-day increases remain in the low three-figure range.
Today’s COVID-19 numbers
On Thursday, provincial public health officials reported 111 new cases.
That number is up slightly from yesterday’s 16-week low of 102.
“Locally, 30 of Ontario’s 34 public health units are reporting five or fewer cases, with fully 19 of them reporting no new cases,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said on Twitter. “Yesterday, the province processed 26,492 tests.
“With 141 more resolved, there are 30 fewer active cases in Ontario,” she added. “The number of hospitalizations, ICU admissions and vented patients have all declined.”
Most of the the new cases are in Greater Toronto Area. Toronto confirmed 49 infections, Peel Region reported 14 and York Region recorded five. There were also 15 new cases in Windsor-Essex.
Overall, the province is seeing a downward trend in new infections. Ontario confirmed 111 cases on Tuesday, 116 cases on Monday, 129 cases on Sunday, 130 on Saturday and 116 cases on Friday.
Ontario’s total case count is 37,163 infections. Of those, 89 per cent – or 33,061 – are resolved. Another five people have died since yesterday, bringing the provincial death toll to 2,737.
