TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2021) The Canadian province of Ontario is introducing a host of new coronavirus-related public health restriction, including extending the province-wide stay-at-home order by two weeks and setting up checkpoints at provincial borders, Premier Doug Ford announced.
The announcement follows new projections from an expert panel advising the provincial government revealed, according to which Ontario is on track to surpass earlier projections, even with increased public health measures in place, with the daily caseload expected to swell to more than 15,000 daily cases by the middle of June.
"Effective immediately, we are extending the emergency declaration and prolonging the stay-at-home order province-wide for an additional two weeks for a total of six weeks," Ford said during a press briefing on Friday.
The data modelling projections unveiled on April 1 revealed that Ontario was on track to see daily caseloads nearly tripling - to nearly 6,000 - by the end of the month if no action is taken. Ford implemented a four-week lockdown effective April 5 and declared a state of emergency coupled with a stay-at-home order just a week later.
The province will now be closing all "non-essential" construction, outdoor recreational facilities, including golf courses and introducing checkpoints between Ontario and the neighboring provinces of Manitoba and Quebec.
Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed concern about the situation in Ontario and offered to deploy the Red Cross to assist with in the rollout with mobile vaccination sites.
The premier's office, however, declined the offer with Ford's spokesperson Ivana Yelich saying� that unless the offer is matched with an increase in supply, the help of the Red Cross is unnecessary.
Ontario is reporting some 4,500 people testing positive for the novel coronavirus daily and the province has reported 408,383 cases and over 7,664 virus-related deaths since the onset of the pandemic a year ago.
