Ontario adding new restrictions to long-term care homes due to Omicron spike
Ontario adding new restrictions to long-term care homes due to Omicron spike
Ontario is adding new restrictions to long-term care homes, including banning access to general visitors and day absences for residents for social purposes.
The temporary measures will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 30, the government says.
Under the new restrictions, access to long-term care homes by general visitors will be paused, but two designated caregivers per person may continue to enter long-term care homes.
Day absences for all residents for social purposes will also be paused, the government said.
"There are 45,000 caregivers across the province. Those are the people who are day-to-day most frequently into homes and we are ensuring that they can still have access," Minister of Long-Term Care Rod Phillips said Tuesday.
Phillis said allowing caregivers to still enter long-term care homes is a fundamentally different approach to the previous waves of COVID-19 that ensures "vital connections to family and friends are still available."
The government said it will closely monitor long-term care homes and continue to adjust measures "as necessary to keep residents and staff safe."
Phillips says 41 long-term care homes are currently experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks, up from 37 on Monday.
He says 84 per cent of eligible residents and 43 per cent of eligible workers had received COVID-19 vaccine booster doses as of last week.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Defeated and discouraged': Airport frustrations sour Canadians' summer travel plans
CTVNews.ca asked Canadians to share their travel horror stories as cancelled flights, delays and lost luggage throw a wrench in Canadians' summer travel plans, due in part to staffing shortages at Canadian airports. Some report sleeping at airports and others say it took days to get to or from a destination.

Gas prices see long weekend drop in parts of Canada, but analysts say relief not likely to last
The Canada Day long weekend saw gas prices plummet in parts of the country, but the relief at the pumps may not stay for very long, analysts say. The decreases come after crude oil prices slid in June following the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes, sparking fears of a recession.
TD 'significantly' downgrades home sale, price forecasts
A new report from TD says Canadian home sales could fall by nearly one-quarter on average this year and remain low into 2023.
Anti-Taliban law could be tweaked to get more humanitarian aid to Afghans: minister
A law outlawing any dealings with the Taliban, which charities complain is impeding their ability to help needy Afghans, could be adjusted by the federal government to give more flexibility to aid agencies.
Biden intends to nominate a conservative, anti-abortion lawyer to federal judgeship, Kentucky Democrats say
U.S. President Joe Biden intends to nominate an anti-abortion Republican lawyer to a federal judgeship, two Kentucky Democrats informed of the decision say.
Russian forces press assault on eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk
Russian forces pounded the city of Lysychansk and its surroundings in an all-out attempt to seize the last stronghold of resistance in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk province, the governor said Saturday.
'You do not want this' virus: California man with monkeypox urges others to get vaccinated
A California man has posted a widely-shared video in an attempt to educate people about the monkeypox virus outbreak, to encourage people to get vaccinated if they're eligible and to make it very clear: 'You do not want this.'
'Ungrading': How one Ontario teacher is changing her approach to report cards
An Ontario high school teacher plans to continue with an alternative method of grading her students after an experiment last semester in which students proposed a grade and had to justify it with examples of their work.
McDonald's Canada to end 'free hot drink' stickers on cups
The days of collecting stickers from cups and claiming a hot drink after purchasing six will soon be a thing of the past at McDonald’s Canada locations as of December 2023.