The new order goes into effect Thursday and applies to Toronto and Ottawa. This is the second of its kind since the pandemic began.
“I stood here last week and told you our province is in crisis,” Ontario’s Prime Minister Doug Ford told a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday. “The facts are clear: cases and deaths are the highest since the beginning of the pandemic, and the spread of the community continues to increase.”
For at least four weeks, the government in Ontario will “require everyone to stay home with exceptions for essential purposes, such as going to the grocery store or pharmacy, accessing health care services, for exercise or for essential work,” according to ‘ provided a statement to CNN.
All non-essential retail stores and personalized eateries have been closed since Christmas Day in Ontario and since late November in Toronto. Schools in Ontario’s hotspots, including Toronto and its suburbs, will only re-learn at least February 10th.
“We need to change our mobility patterns, too many people have too many contacts. Increased contacts are the result of increased mobility,” said Christine Elliott, Ontario’s health minister. “To break this cycle, you need to stay home as much as possible, and it starts with a home stay.”
Officials have strictly enforced the new restrictions and warned that people who violate the measures could be fined thousands of dollars and face up to a year in prison.
Ontario ICUs already approaching capacity
Canada’s second wave of Covid-19 is now more widespread and more severe than the first, with a national average of seven days of 8,100 new cases per day, a pandemic height, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Public health officials in Ontario warned at a Tuesday press conference that one in four ICUs in Ontario was already full, and that the hospital was threatened with being overrun.
Ontario reported 14 cases of new variants in the province, but officials said what is more worrying is the discovery of three cases unrelated to travel this week, which could indicate the variant is already in the community and spreading.
“Three of our cases do not have a travel history,” said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, co-head of health in Ontario, said. “If confirmed, we have evidence of the transmission from the community, and it’s a very serious concern that the vaccine may not be speaking fast enough.”
Earlier Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government would purchase an additional dose of 20 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, adding that Canada would have at least 80 million doses of vaccine available by the fall. Canada is also currently administering the Moderna vaccine.
Trudeau reiterates his promise that every Canadian who wants the vaccine should be vaccinated by September.
“We are doing everything in our power to bring more doses to the fore, to speed up the process,” Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday. “Because we know that the sooner we vaccinate as many Canadians as possible, the sooner we get through this pandemic.”
Elizabeth Hartfield of CNN contributed to this report.