TORONTO -- Several Ontario school boards are warning students and staff that internet outages are affecting online classes today.

Boards in Kingston, the Windsor area, Halton Region and the Ottawa area all issued notices on social media today, flagging potential problems with remote schooling as a result of a number of outages.

They say multiple internet providers, including Cogeco, are reporting their services are down.

The boards are asking students and staff to be patient as the companies work to restore service.

The outages come as students across the province are logging on for online-only classes, part of the Ontario government's efforts to curb the spread COVID-19.

 The shift to remote learning is part of a provincial lockdown that began on Boxing Day and is set to last until Jan. 9 in northern Ontario and Jan. 23 in southern Ontario.

Students in northern Ontario and elementary students in southern Ontario will resume in-person classes next week, while high schoolers in southern Ontario will continue online learning until Jan. 25.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2021.