Ontario has announced new restrictions, including cutting gathering sizes and slashing capacity limits to 50 per cent for most indoor settings, as COVID-19 cases soar in the province.
Starting at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, gathering sizes will drop from 25 people to 10 people indoors. Outdoor gathering limits will be lowered to 25.
Ontario is reintroducing capacity limits of 50 per cent at most indoor settings across the province. This includes places like restaurants and bars, personal care services, retailers, and shopping malls.
Additionally, bars, restaurants and strip clubs will ordered to close at 11 p.m., with the exception of take out and delivery service.
The number of people permitted to sit at a table will be restricted to 10 people, and patrons will be required to remain seated in restaurants, bars and other food or drink establishments.
Dancing will not be allowed, except for workers or performers.
The government has also ordered the suspension of food and drink services at sporting events, concert venues, theatres and cinemas, casinos, bingo halls and other gaming establishments, horse racing tracks, car racing tracks and other similar venues.
The sale of alcohol will be restricted after 10 p.m.
These limits do not apply to any portion of a business that is being used for a wedding, a funeral or a religious service, rite, or ceremony, the government says.
Sources told CTV News Toronto on Friday that Ontario expects to report 6,000 COVID-19 per day by the end of the weekend.
"While out intensive care units remain stable, we expect the number of admissions to grow as more people catch COVID-19, particularity the unvaccinated," Premier Doug Ford said Friday.
"The experts have been very clear, nothing can stop the spread of Omicron, it's just too transmissible. What we can do, what we are doing, is slowing it as much as possible to allow more time for shots to get into arms."
The new restrictions come one day after new modelling suggested Ontario could see intensive care capacity reach unsustainable levels in January without an "immediate circuit breaker" to blunt the spread of Omicron.
According to the Ontario's Science Advisory Table, increasing vaccination is "not enough to slow this wave."
The experts suggest an "immediate circuit breaker," where people in Ontario cut their contacts by at least 50 per cent and COVID-19 booster shot campaigns ramp up to 250,000 shots per day.
The required interval between a person's second dose and booster shot was shortened from six months down to three months.
The province also said it would be limiting capacity in some indoor spaces with more than 1,000 people to 50 per cent.
"I know you are tired," Ford said. "Over the last 20 months, you have been asked to sacrifice so much. We've all dug so deep and now we need to dig a little deeper. We'll get through this."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's efforts to assure Canadians that his government is adequately addressing the threat of foreign interference took a hit on Wednesday, when the majority of MPs in the House of Commons voted for special rapporteur David Johnston to 'step aside.'
Seventeen people – most of whom are young students – were hospitalized after a falling from a height during a field trip at Winnipeg's Fort Gibraltar. However, many of the children are now being discharged and sent home, according to an update from the hospital.
Although bladder cancer is the fifth most common cancer in Canada, experts say there’s a significant lack of awareness surrounding whom it affects the most — statistically, men — and that the most common risk factor is smoking.
Canada will soon require health warnings to be printed directly on individual cigarettes, making it the first country to implement this kind of measure aimed at reducing tobacco usage.
More than three years after COVID was declared a global pandemic, a new study is looking at how the international health crisis has changed the lifestyle habits of Canadians.
A year after arguing Nigeria's ruling party is responsible for terrorist acts, the Trudeau government has sent a cabinet minister to celebrate the swearing-in of its new president.
The Canadian economy grew faster than expected in the first three months of the year and likely expanded again in April, fuelling speculation that the Bank of Canada will raise interest rates again.
Statistics Canada says fewer fresh fruits and vegetables were available to Canadians in 2022, due to factors such as ongoing supply chain issues, labour shortages and price increases.
Last year, Quebec’s Bill 96 became law, which brought sweeping changes to the Charter of the French language. Sections of the new law will come into effect on June 1, the one-year anniversary of the bill receiving royal assent.
Some communities in Quebec are expected to get record-high temperatures and Environment Canada has issued several weather warnings and watches for heat. Dr. Christopher Labos spoke to CTV News anchor Mutsumi Takahashi about heat and sunstroke and tips for preventing serious consequences in the sun.
When asked to clarify his position on the involvement of private enterprise in the construction of dams, Premier François Legault said on Wednesday that his government 'has nothing against the private sector.' He was responding to Quebec Solidaire (QS)'s demand for transparency, after Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon had expressed an openness to the construction of hydroelectric facilities by private enterprise.
A 72-year-old from Kitchener has been charged with careless driving after a vehicle careened off Highland Road West and smashed through the backyards of three homes on Ralgreen Crescent in Kitchener Tuesday afternoon.
Huntsville OPP has charged a third girl in connection to an alleged assault captured on video at a local high school and shared on social media earlier this month.
Forest fires in northern Ontario are on the rise, with the largest in the region shutting down a critical highway for the people of Hornepayne for a bit and bringing the community to the brink of evacuation.
A Toronto woman says she was shamed for the size of her order at a sushi restaurant north of the city in a scathing review posted to social media that’s been viewed more than 1.4 million times.
Ontario Provincial Police have arrested a 21-year-old man from Ottawa in connection with the shooting deaths of two teens from Mississauga in Pembroke, Ont. A third teenager, also from Mississauga, was injured.
A heat warning is in effect for Ottawa. Environment Canada's forecast calls for sunny and hot weather to continue for the final day of May and the start of June.
Canadian Heritage unveiled the programming for July 1 celebrations, inviting Canadians to come to the capital region to "join the biggest party in the country!"
Windsor police say they are deploying additional officers to the downtown core over the next three days to promote community safety and reduce incidents of crime.
A sentencing hearing got underway for the 71-year-old Georgian Bay man convicted of driving impaired and causing a collision on Highway 12 in 2020 that claimed the life of a 77-year-old Midland man.
Police charged one man following a serious collision involving a dump truck and car in Barrie on Tuesday afternoon that sent both drivers to the hospital.
Huntsville OPP has charged a third girl in connection to an alleged assault captured on video at a local high school and shared on social media earlier this month.
Seventeen people – most of whom are young students – were hospitalized after a falling from a height during a field trip at Winnipeg's Fort Gibraltar. However, many of the children are now being discharged and sent home, according to an update from the hospital.
Seventeen people – most of whom are young students – were hospitalized after a falling from a height during a field trip at Winnipeg's Fort Gibraltar. However, many of the children are now being discharged and sent home, according to an update from the hospital.
After the remains of Madison Scott were identified this week, exactly 12 years after the B.C. woman went missing, her family says they’re still looking for answers and closure.
