Ontario reported Monday that 1,487 more people have tested positive for COVID-19, with 508 new cases in Toronto, 392 in Peel, and 170 in York Region. Ottawa, meanwhile, saw 51 new cases.
There are at least 500 COVID-19 patients hospitalized across the province, (an increase of 21 from Sunday), including 125 in ICU and 70 on ventilators. With a number of hospitals not reporting data over the weekend, as often happens, the true number of hospitalizations may be higher.
Over the weekend, Ontario set another record for COVID-19 case growth – as did several other Canadian provinces – with 1,581 new cases reported Saturday.
Citing the rising numbers, Premier Doug Ford tweeted Sunday that he’s asking everyone “to limit their trips outside of the home, except essential reasons like going to work, school, getting groceries, or for medical appointments.
“Families should not allow visitors to their homes & avoid social gatherings.”
The premier’s director of media relations clarified Monday that this message is not directed to all Ontarians – it’s intended for those living in regions in the “red-control” level of the province’s public health measures framework. Red-zone regions are currently Toronto, Halton, Hamilton, and York Region.
Residents in a number of public health unit regions in Ontario, meanwhile, woke up Monday in a new level of the province’s colour-coded pandemic restrictions framework.
The Ontario government announced Friday it was updating the framework (which would allow less room for the COVID-19 situation to worsen in a given area before applying additional restrictions), and would therefore be assigning a number of regions to a different, more restrictive level as of Monday.
While Ottawa’s status was unchanged, and remains “orange-restrict” for now, Eastern Ontario has been moved from the yellow level to the orange one.
In the public health unit regions surrounding Ottawa, the case count rose by nine Monday in Eastern Ontario, by six in Renfrew County and District, by three in both Hastings Prince Edward and Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington, and by one in Leeds, Grenville & Lanark.
Elsewhere in Ottawa, poor weather conditions have closed the drive-thru COVID-19 assessment centre on Coventry Road for the day, OPH tweeted. Anyone with a booked appointment was directed instead to the assessment centre at Brewer Park Arena for a test Monday.
