TORONTO – The Ontario government says it needs another week of COVID-19 data before deciding whether the province is ready to move on to the next phase of the reopening plan.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said on Tuesday during a briefing at Queen’s Park that things have gone “pretty well” since Ontario entered the second phase, but that health officials need a little more time to assess and monitor possible outbreaks.
“We are very careful with it,” said Elliott. “We have discussions about moving on to the next phase. Whether we do it across the province, whether we do it regionally, these are serious discussions we are having.”
“We hope to move on to the next phase as soon as possible.”
According to the province’s guidelines, published in April, phase 3 would increase the number of public meetings and open all jobs.
Ontarians are not currently allowed to hold social gatherings of more than 10 people.
Large public gatherings such as concerts and sporting events will continue to be restricted for the foreseeable future.
Last week, Prime Minister Doug Ford said Ontario would enter stage three using a regional approach, similar to stage two.
“We will rely on all health officials, all 34 from across the province, and I am sure we will take the same staged approach,” said Ford last week. “We will only advance it on the basis of health and science and make sure that we are very careful.”
The original framework for the reopening of the province was two to four weeks between phases so that officials could monitor for an increase in certain cases.
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