Premier Doug Ford is set to unveil his government's plans for re-opening the province on Monday afternoon.
Ford's announcement is said to take place during his daily briefing at 1:30 pm at Queen's Park, where he will be joined by Minister of Health Christine Elliott, Minister of Finance Rod Phillips, and Vic Fedeli, minister of economic development, job creation and trade. This comes after a weekend that saw an influx of 913 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases in Ontario to 14,432. Still, the daily increases are consistently declining from previous week.
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The province currently remains under a state of emergency that has been extended several times since it was first implemented on Tuesday, March 17. The current order is expected to remain in place until at least mid-May.
At this time, all businesses that are considered non-essential remain closed, as do other services like child-care centres, libraries, recreation facilities, places of worship, and public schools — which will remain closed until at least June 1.
The only businesses that are allowed to remain open and considered 'essential' are supermarkets, pharmacies, and liquor and beer stores. Restaurants are able to remain open only for takeout and delivery and are also permitted to serve wine, beer, and spirits to go. Additionally, hardware stores, pet shops, and cannabis dispensaries are limited to curbside pick-up.
Ford has previously said the re-opening of the economy would be gradual and based on recommendations from health officials.
“We’ll be releasing our framework for reopening Ontario’s economy. It will provide a gradual and measured approach to opening up,” Ford said during his daily briefing on Friday.
This comes as other provinces, such as Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island have announced tentative timelines for re-opening their economies.
