The HKPR District Health Unit region will move to yellow-protect as of Monday (Mar 8), meaning restaurants will be able to lift the 50-person capacity limit, stay open longer, and have a limit of six people sit at the same table.
And personal care services requiring the removal of face coverings can now resume also.
We’ve been in the Orange category for the past three weeks since the provincial Stay-at-Home order was lifted mid-February.
Ontario is reporting 1,250 new cases of COVID-19 today (Mar 5), while locally, our health unit region is reporting 3 new cases, all in Northumberland (more details on local numbers can be found here: https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiOTJkYWRmODgtYzg5Ni00MmMyLWIzODgtNDU4ODYxZTVlNzc3IiwidCI6IjdkYzFmZjlkLTA1ZjEtNGNhNi1iYWZlLTIyNmZmNWYxNmJkYSJ9a).
These numbers come as the stay-at-home orders will be lifted on Monday in three hot spots in Ontario: Toronto and Peel Region will go into the strictest “grey lockdown” category, while North Bay will be placed in the “red” zone, the second most restrictive level.
Seven other Ontario regions will also move to different restriction levels on Monday.
And welcome news today as details were heard from Premier Doug Ford, Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, Solicitor General Sylvia Jones, and General Rick Hillier (retired), Chair of the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force.
Ontario is ready to rollout Phase Two of COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan, with the focus being on older adults, those at risk of serious illness and hot spot areas.
With vaccine supply stabilizing and over two million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine expected from the federal government before the end of March, the province to enter Phase Two of its vaccine rollout. Between April 2021 and July 2021, up to nine million Ontarians will be vaccinated.
This news comes as an extra 1.5-million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine are set to arrive in the country this month.
And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says April and May will see deliveries each totalling one-million doses.
News of the boost in vaccine deliveries followed Health Canada’s announcement this morning that it has approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
That could make a big difference in the pace of vaccinations since it only requires a single dose and can be stored and transported at refrigerated temperatures for at least three months, making it easy to distribute across the country.
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During Phase Two, groups that will receive the vaccine include:
>Older adults between 60-79 years of age;
>Individuals with specific health conditions and some primary caregivers;
>People who live and work in congregate settings and some primary caregivers;
>People who live in hot spots with high rates of death, hospitalizations and transmission; and,
>Certain workers who cannot work from home.
