Police bar at New Edict as Ontario invades emergency measures

Photographer: Cole Burston / Bloomberg

Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford has said he has no choice but to impose some of the strictest restrictions in North America to curb a sharp rise in the Covid-19 cases. Some police forces are pushing back.

Canada’s largest province laid out new measures Friday as part of an emergency home order, followed by a jump in severe virus cases. Ford Government Gives Police extraordinary powers to stop vehicles and individuals, to ask why they are not at home.

But police in Toronto, Waterloo and other cities quickly issued statements saying they would not conduct random investigations.

In the capital of the country, the Ottawa Police Service late Friday said he will not stop at random and does not want his powers to affect the confidence of the public. But it will be involved in establishing checkpoints on bridges between Ontario and neighboring Quebec, after Ford’s government announced new restrictions for travelers from other provinces. People will still be allowed to cross the provincial border for work.

The Prime Minister of Ontario almost all public gatherings, golf courses and playgrounds for children, prohibited, and some construction sites closed. It comes on top of previous moves to close schools and non-essential retailers. In some parts of the province, including Toronto, hair salons and restaurant-dining rooms have been closed for several months.

“My friends, we are losing the battle between the variants and the vaccines,” Ford told a news conference on Friday after reporting 4,812 new cases within 24 hours. “The reality is that there are few options left.” The province currently has 2,065 patients hospitalized with the virus, of which 726 are in intensive care units.

Ford’s new measures have divided opinions in the province of 14.7 million people. Some believe that his government should have stepped down earlier and taken action to reduce activities in warehouses, factories and other workplaces. dozens of virus outbreaks. Others argue that the restrictions go too far, restraining civil liberties in the light of evidence that most outdoor activity is safe.

Covid claims 3 million lives as burden shifts to poorer nations

Canada has experienced a shortage of vaccines, which has hampered the country’s efforts to curb a third wave of the virus. About 22% of Canadians have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine compared to 39% in the US and 49% in the UK, according to the Bloomberg vaccine detection.

This week, Canada surpassed the US for the first time in the number of new Covid-19 cases per capita. In Ontario, with the exception of emergencies, operations in most of the province must be canceled as intensive care units concentrate on treating Covid-19 patients.