The province’s Special Investigations Unit has been called in following a collision between a police cruiser and a motorcycle on Thursday night.
Police say the crash occurred on Sixth Street near Birmingham Street in south Etobicoke just before 8 p.m.
A man and a woman who were on the motorcycle were transported to hospital with what police describe as non-life threatening injuries.
No officers were injured in the crash.
Police did not say if the officers were on their way to a call at the time the accident occurred, citing the SIU’s involvement in the investigation.
Greyhound Canada is permanently cutting all bus routes across the country, shutting down the intercity bus carrier’s operations in Canada after nearly a century of service.
The motor coach company said its remaining routes in Ontario and Quebec will cease permanently on Thursday.
Its American affiliate, Greyhound Lines, Inc., will continue to operate cross-border routes to Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver once the border reopens.
The decision comes a year after Greyhound Canada temporarily suspended all service due to a sharp decline in passengers and mounting travel restrictions amid the first wave of COVID-19.
The bus carrier has struggled for years with declining ridership, increasing competition and deregulation.
But the complete loss of so-called farebox revenue during the pandemic has forced the company to permanently cease operations, said Greyhound Canada senior vice-president Stuart Kendrick.
“It’s been a very tough decision and one we’ve taken with a heavy heart,” he told The Canadian Press in an interview. “It’s been a lifeline for many Canadians for more than 90 years. This will have a massive impact.”
The decision is a blow to rural and remote areas that rely on a patchwork of private intercity bus companies for transportation.
The service has long been part of a network linking smaller communities and big cities, offering an affordable and convenient mode of travel for everyone from essential workers and students to the elderly and backpackers.
Yet the rise in car ownership, ride sharing, discount airlines and urban migration has slowly eroded bus ridership, leading Greyhound Canada to gradually reduce the frequency of some services and cut other routes altogether.
“Private carriers are relying on the farebox revenue to maintain these rural routes,” Kendrick said. “When ridership declines, we have a decision to make. We either cut the frequency, exit the rural markets or look for some help.”
Citing declining ridership, deregulation and subsidized competition, Greyhound Canada suspended all operations in Western Canada in 2018.
Yet despite the ongoing challenges with its remaining routes, nothing could have prepared the company for the dramatic 95 per cent drop in passengers at the outset of the pandemic, Kendrick said.
Multiple coach bus companies teamed up and approached the federal and provincial governments for financial aid amid mounting COVID-19 restrictions. But Kendrick said they were referred to existing pandemic supports _ what he called “negligible” for the beleaguered passenger transportation industry _ prompting Greyhound Canada to temporarily suspend all service last May.
“There’s really been a lack of support,” Kendrick said. “We don’t get subsidies.”
Intercity bus carriers are also competing with publicly funded train and transit systems, he said, putting private companies at a disadvantage.
The Ontario government has also promised to deregulate the intercommunity bus industry starting in July, a move that would end Greyhound Canada’s control of certain routes.
“We have had exclusive private bus service on certain corridors,” he said, noting that it provided passengers with safe, frequent and affordable service.
“Greyhound Canada’s tough decision today is going to have a massive impact on customers, especially those riding in the rural network.”
About 260 employees were laid off after Greyhound Canada temporarily ended its passenger service last May. An additional 45 employees will be laid off as a result of the permanent closure, Kendrick said.
The Amalgamated Transit Union lamented the impact of the shutdown on workers and said it will leave thousands of people without transportation options.
“This is devastating news for the thousands of Canadians, especially those from Indigenous and First Nations communities, who have relied on Greyhound for transportation,” said the union’s international president, John Costa, in a statement.
Greyhound plans to sell the bus stations it owns, Kendrick said. As for its leased properties, some of the agreements have expired or have an “out clause,” while it will honour the terms of leases it’s obliged to continue paying, Kendrick said.
The company said tickets for travel after Thursday will be refunded. Customers with a valid travel voucher can also request a refund.
All Ontario and Quebec routes that were temporarily suspended in May 2020 will permanently end as of midnight on Thursday. The routes are:
– Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal
– Toronto-London-Windsor
– Sudbury-Ottawa/Toronto
– Toronto-Kitchener/Guelph/Cambridge
– Toronto-Niagara Falls
– Ottawa-Kingston
Riders across Canada said they were disappointed by Greyhound’s closure, such as 68-year-old Robyn Brown, who used to take the Greyhound bus to travel to Toronto when she lived in Niagara Falls, Ont.
Now living in Vancouver, Brown has also used Greyhound bus routes to visit friends from smaller towns in British Columbia that aren’t serviced by other forms of public transit.
Before the pandemic, she and her husband planned to take a Greyhound from Vancouver to Winnipeg to save on travel fare.
“I’m really sad to see that it’s going, I really am,” she said, adding that she would now fly to Winnipeg or Toronto if she wanted to travel between provinces.
Lisa Baril in Calgary said she has childhood memories of taking a Greyhound bus to visit her grandparents in Kelwood, Man.
As an adult, Baril said she would pick up her grandmother from the Greyhound station in Calgary whenever she’d visit.
“She would say (Greyhound’s closure) is a shame,” said Baril about her late grandmother. “She would probably get frustrated and say `well how am I going to see you guys now?”’Michael Clark, 35, from Waterloo, Ont., said that in college, he used to take the Greyhound bus almost every month to visit his parents in Kingston, Ont., from Ottawa.
“When I moved back to Kingston, I would take day trips into Toronto on weekends by catching the earliest and latest buses in and out,” he said, adding that he found the train too expensive and the Greyhound bus was an easy direct route for him.
He said the closure is “such a horrible loss” for smaller towns in Ontario, where the only way to travel outside the community is by car.
The pandemic has had a debilitating impact on Canada’s struggling intercity bus industry.
Coach bus companies have reduced service frequency or cut routes due to the precipitous drop in ridership, threatening to erode the country’s transportation network.
In January, senators from the Maritimes sent a letter to federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra urging Ottawa to provide financial assistance to Maritime Bus.
The Charlottetown-based company had warned that without funding, it would have to cut routes.
The senators said that with Via Rail service suspended and airlines slashing flights to the region, the bus was needed for essential travel, such as transporting blood products or patients to health appointments across the region.
In January, the New Brunswick government stepped in to provide $720,000 to the private regional bus operator to maintain service to Edmundston and Campbellton in the province’s north.
The Ford government has extended the provincial stay-at-home order and all public health measures for another two more weeks.
The order, which was set to expire on May 20, will end on June 2. Premier Doug Ford said his goal is to have the most normal July and August and the extension is necessary to make this happen.
“We need to do everything in our power to protect this summer for all Ontarians,” said Ford. “These are precious weeks we won’t put to waste.”
The province will be making those aged 12-17 eligible to book their COVID-19 vaccine on May 31. There will be special dedicated youth and family vaccine clinics during the weeks of June 14 and 21.
Virtual learning will also continue for the time being.
COVID-19 cases have been slowly decreasing amid the stay-at-home order and increased vaccinations since the surge of the third wave. The seven-day average currently sits at 2,731 cases.
“We are progressing, we are getting there, but we are not quite there yet,” said Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams.
Toronto Mayor John Tory welcomed the announcement, saying it gives people and businesses clear expectations for the next few weeks.
“I hope over the coming weeks we have a clear and simple reopening plan from the province so every resident and every business across our city can plan, as much as possible, for June, July and August,” said Tory.
Many have been calling for the reopening of outdoor recreation activities amid the nicer weather, but the provincial government will keep them closed until at least June 2.
When asked why they aren’t opening outdoor recreation activities, Dr. Williams said it’s less about the activity itself. “When you open up a lot of facilities, it’s not sometimes the activity, it’s the congregate activity before and after.”
“They pick up another buddy, two or three go out, go golfing, there’s nothing wrong with golfing,” Ford said. “The problem is, then after golf they go back, they have some pops. That’s the problem.”
“We just can’t risk it … Just a couple more weeks and we will do everything we can to get things back to normal,” he added.
Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie said she’s hopeful the extension of the order will help avoid a “fourth wave of the pandemic,” she expressed disappointment that the restrictions on outdoor recreation were not amended.
“The science is abundantly clear that these activities are safe if proper precautions are taken,” said Crombie. “I will continue advocating for these restrictions to be lifted.”
Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath expressed disappointment with that decision.
“I think it’s very clearly what leading public health and other science advisers are saying,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of room to give Ontarians a break.”
Ford has been visibly absent from the public since coming out of self-isolation after a COVID-19 exposure.
Ford also renewed his calls for tighter controls on domestic travellers and those who arrive through land crossings, saying Ottawa has yet to respond to his requests on these issues.
The premier said of the over 88,000 travellers who have landed in Ontario, one-third have been able to bypass the three-day hotel quarantine. They have also seen private jets landing at smaller airports and avoiding the quarantine.
“There are two sets of rules right now, one for those who can afford a private jet and those of us who can’t,” said Ford. “People are exploiting well-known loopholes that have been left in place.”
The premier has issued another letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, arguing additional measures — such as quarantine requirements for travellers coming into Canada by land — are needing to curb the spread of more contagious COVID-19 variants.
Trudeau said Thursday he was “frustrated” and “disappointed” with the Ontario premier.
Green party Leader Mike Schreiner also slammed Ford for being pre-occupied with attacking the federal government on border issues, saying he should in stead be doing more to prevent the predominate source of outbreaks – workplaces.
“The premier is using the border to deflect from his own failures to … avoid, or at least mitigate, the third wave,” he said.
Preliminary results of an ongoing study in the United Kingdom suggest alternating the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines causes more frequent mild to moderate symptoms, but there are no other safety concerns from mixing those vaccines.
However, researchers at the University of Oxford have not yet determined how a combination of shots would affect the immune system’s response compared with sticking with the same COVID-19 vaccine for both the prime and booster shots.
They say in a peer-reviewed letter published in The Lancet on Wednesday that an increase in short-term adverse reactions occurred after the Pfizer vaccine was followed four weeks later by AstraZeneca, or vice versa, as part of the study that began earlier this year.
Chief investigator Matthew Snape, associate professor in pediatrics and vaccinology at Oxford, said initial data are being released to inform people about symptoms as several countries consider mixing vaccines.
“The results from this study suggest that mixed dose schedules could result in an increase in work absences the day after immunization, and this is important to consider when planning immunization of health-care workers,” Snape said in a EurekAlert! statement issued by the service, which provides science-related releases.
Researchers also noted that while the study participants were aged 50 and over, it’s possible that adverse reactions may be more prevalent in younger people, though they did not provide any details.
Results on whether immune response to mixed doses would be affected are expected to be released by the Oxford team in the coming months.
Snape said they’ve adapted the ongoing study to assess if early and regular use of acetaminophen in Tylenol, for example, reduced the frequency of fever and mild to moderate pain.
The study recruited 830 people to evaluate four combinations of vaccination: a first dose of AstraZeneca followed by either a booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine or another dose of AstraZeneca, or the Pfizer vaccine followed by a second shot of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer.
Research was expanded last month for a new study with 1,050 volunteers who received either the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine before randomly getting either the same vaccine for their second dose or the Moderna or Novavax vaccine.
Horacio Bach, an infectious diseases expert at the University of British Columbia, said the small size of the initial study does not make it possible to know whether some people would get severe reactions from mixing the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines.
AstraZeneca, for example, was tested in about 32,000 people but rare blood clots were not detected until millions of people received the vaccine, which a national vaccine panel in Canada has suggested should be sidelined in favour of the “preferred” Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
Bach said it’s possible that knowing about an increase in adverse reactions from mixing vaccines could deter some people from getting a second dose, though symptoms following vaccination from even the seasonal flu shot vary widely.
Three Canadians — in Alberta, New Brunswick and Quebec — have died from a rare blood clot associated with AstraZeneca.
On Wednesday, even as the federal government announced it’s expecting to receive hundreds of thousands of doses of the vaccine, Nova Scotia and Manitoba said they would limit its use to second doses after similar restrictions on Tuesday in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec. Some of the provinces have used up their AstraZeneca supply.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said Wednesday the province is expecting to use some of its forthcoming supply of AstraZeneca for second doses and more doses had been distributed to pharmacies in the Island and Interior health regions.
Elections commissioner Yves Cote says his office investigated some 400 complaints about false statements allegedly made during the 2019 federal election campaign.
He says all but two or three have been resolved and none have been prosecuted.
While 400 may seem like a large number, Cote says the complaints were clustered around roughly a half-dozen allegedly false statements — with many of them using identical language, suggesting an organized campaign.
To the best of his recollection, Cote says the complaints all involved misinformation targeting white males.
Cote offered those details Wednesday during testimony before a Senate committee that is conducting a pre-study of the federal government’s budget implementation bill.
The massive omnibus bill includes an amendment to the Canada Elections Act to bring it into compliance with a recent Ontario Superior Court ruling that struck down a provision intended to curb misinformation during elections.
The provision was added to the election law in 2018 as part of the Liberal government’s broader reform of election rules.
It made it an offence for any person or entity to make a false statement about the citizenship, place of birth, education, professional qualifications, criminal record or membership in a group of any candidate, would-be candidate, party leader or public figure associated with a party.
Largely because the provision did not specify that a person must “knowingly” make a false statement, it was struck down by the Ontario court as a violation of freedom of speech.
The amendment now being proposed adds the word “knowingly” to the provision.
Cote told the Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs committee that he always interpreted the provision as applying only to knowingly peddled misinformation and instructed his office to investigate only those complaints that met that standard.
That led some senators to question the value of the provision since it resulted in no prosecutions.
But Sen. Paula Simons, a former journalist who now sits in the Independent Senators Group, questioned the potential chilling effect on individuals who might constrain their opinions during an election for fear of being prosecuted.
Joanna Barron, executive director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation which launched the court challenge, said she believes the provision, even with the proposed amendment, remains a threat to free speech.
“Canadians should not have to fear prosecution for communicating information that the state deems to be false or for sharing ideas that politicians deem unworthy of dissemination,” she told the committee.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc argued that the amended version strikes a fine balance between free speech and disinformation that can be used to manipulate election outcomes. He suggested that the victims of misinformation are most frequently women and racialized individuals.
However, Cote said the complaints received about the 2019 campaign involved false statements allegedly made about men, none of whom, to the best of his recollection, were racialized.
Both Cote and chief electoral officer Stephane Perrault told the committee that they support the amendment.
A woman in her 30s has been injured in a multi-vehicle collision involving a TTC streetcar in The Beaches.
Police were called to Queen Street East at Maclean Avenue just after 9 p.m. Wednesday to a crash between three vehicles, a Mercedes-Benz, Jeep Wrangler and Lamborghini, and a streetcar.
One patient was taken to hospital with injuries. The severity of their injuries and whether anyone else suffered injuries is unknown.
Police are on the scene investigating what caused the collision.
Queen is closed between Glen Manor Drive and Balsam Avenue.
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has announced they will be using a quadmester schedule for secondary schools for the 2021-2022 school year.
The quadmester model, where students take two courses at a time, was also used for the 2020-2021 school year as students spent multiple months online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
TDSB sent a letter home to parents this week, saying the decision was made to use the quadmester approach as it meets anticipated health measures and student needs.
The quadmesters would be from Sept. to mid-Nov., mid-Nov. to Jan., Feb. to mid-April and mid-April to June with two course in each timeframe.
The model will also allow a “common entry” point for those who may be transferring between schools.
It was also previously announced that parents will be able to choose between in-school learning and virtual learning for their children.
The deadline to make a decision is expected to be June 1, but the board reassured parents that if anyone misses the deadline, there will be place saved for them at their home school.
If a students has opted to go back to the in-class learning, there will be an option to switch to virtual learning halfway through the year in Feb. 2022.
Secondary schools with Intensive Support Programs (ISPs) for special needs students will continue to use the semester model.
The TDSB says they are also reaching out to students to receive feedback on the quadmester model. “Hearing directly from students is integral and we have reached out to the Student Senate for insight that will help inform our work,” read the TDSB letter to parents.
The province announced earlier this month that it will be increase funding to school boards by $561 million next year to help address continued pandemic-related costs.
Toronto schools are currently closed for in-person learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have been since April 7. They were previously closed from the Christmas break until Feb. 17 during the second wave of the pandemic.
Ontario health officials have announced they will be no longer administering the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as a first dose option, due to increased concerns of the vaccine’s link to blood clots.
Over the last few days, there have been increased rates of vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) from 0.9 per 100,000 doses to 1.7 per 100,000 doses. That means about 1 in 60,000 people could be affected by the rare, but at times deadly, side effect.
As of May 8, Ontario has seen eight cases of VITT. There have been approximately 850,000 AstraZeneca doses administered in the province.
Health officials are currently reviewing the use of the vaccine for second doses and will provide guidance to those waiting for second doses of AstraZeneca in the next few weeks.
The vaccine is currently only available at pharmacies for adults aged 40 and over.
Health officials say their decision was also influenced by the high and reliable supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams says they have been reviewing data out of the U.K. that shows the risk of blood clots is much lower when AstraZeneca is used as second dose.
Mixing doses of the COVID-19 vaccine is also being studied.
“We maintain that those who received their first dose with the AstraZeneca vaccine did absolutely the right thing to prevent illness and to protect their families, loved ones and communities,” he said.
Health policy expert for McMaster University Dr. Firas Khalid said he was not surprised by the province’s announcement and believes they are just trying to “err on the side of caution.”
“Right now with an abundance of the other types of vaccines, I think it makes sense why [Ontario] has decided right now to pause the vaccine,” said Dr. Khalid.
He said it’s important for those who have taken the first does of AstraZeneca to contact their health care provider to receive guidance on the best way forward for them.
Dr. Khalid said he believes this could be the end of the distribution of AstraZeneca.
“I don’t suspect that they will resume the rollout of them. I think if we continue getting the supply of Pfizer and Madonna, as expected. I think that it will be the end of AstraZeneca for the time being,” said Dr. Khalid.
He added his concerns is there will be a spillover effect of vaccine hesitancy towards the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Dr. Khalid said one of the factors that contributes to vaccine hesitancy is misinformation or lack of answers to their questions so the government should be focused on communicating to the public that the vaccines currently available in Canada are all safe.
“So our job, whether it’s a health policy experts, or whether it’s the government is to really supply the best available evidence to people, and let individuals make their best informed decision. At the end of the day, the choice of what vaccine you want to take is upon the person themselves.”
Of the more than two million people vaccinated with AstraZeneca in Canada, 12 have been were diagnosed with vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), and three of them died.
Alberta became the first province to pause administering AstraZeneca as a first dose vaccine because there weren’t any confirmed new shipments of the vaccine.
Fewer than 200,000 doses remain of the 2.3 million already shipped, and only 1.65 million more are expected before the end of June.
With files from The Canadian Press
The federal government announced Tuesday that they will be helping Ontario fund four major subway projects in the GTA and a rapid transit project in Hamilton.
The $12-billion funding plan is being billed as “once-in-a-generation” and the largest single announcement of transit funding in Canadian history.
The four projects receiving the cash infusion in Toronto are:
- Ontario Line: from Exhibition Place through downtown to the Ontario Science Centre
- Eglinton Crosstown West extension: connecting Scarborough and Mississauga directly along Eglinton Avenue
- Yonge Street North subway: extending Line 1 to Vaughan, Markham and Richmond Hill
- Scarborough subway: extending Line 2 at Bloor-Danforth at Kennedy Station to Sheppard Avenue East – a 7.8 kilometre extension, adding three more stops along Line 2.
In Hamilton, the funding will go toward a rapid transit line that will go from McMaster University in the west, through downtown to Eastgate Centennial Park in Stoney Creek.
“The GTA represents 20 per cent of Canada’s population and growing, and it has the third highest transit system ridership in North America,” said Catherine McKenna, Federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities. “When complete, over six-million people across the GTA will have better access to Toronto services with public transit routes covering 1,200 kilometres. These investments are a key part of our plan to kickstart our economy and create one million jobs.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said the projects will help “support jobs, make people’s commutes better and cut down on pollution.”
“Public transit is at the heart of a strong recovery and growing middle class. It’s also part of our plan to reach net-zero by 2050,” he said. “This $12-billion in funding means people will get where they need to go faster, all with tens of thousands fewer cars on the road daily. The bottom line is this — rapid transit shortens commutes which gives parents more time with their kids and ensures kids will inherit a cleaner future.”
Part of the funding will also go toward buying zero-emissions streetcars for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). Trudeau said the new streetcars will keep Toronto’s air cleaner and help protect “good middle class jobs” at the Alstom automotive plant in Thunder Bay.
“Canada is a world leader in the public transit manufacturing sector … we will continue to encourage this industry in our country,” said Trudeau.
The funding agreement includes key conditions that are expected to improve the outcomes from the projects including community and environmental benefits, affordable housing and more citizen engagement.
McKenna said that every dollar invested in infrastructure must have multiple benefits. As such, federal funding will depend on satisfying those conditions, including:
- Demonstrating how the investments will drive down emissions and build climate resilience
- Substantive environmental reviews
- Community benefit agreements
- Incorporating barrier free and accessibility features
- Ensuring affordable housing along the new lines
- Meeting employment thresholds for underrepresented communities including Black, Indigenous, people of colour and women.
Provincial and municipal officials lauded the announcement and hailed it as a historic partnership between all levels of government.
Ontario’s Minister of Transportation, Caroline Mulroney, said when she took over the transportation portfolio, she received a clear mandate from Premier Doug Ford to move these transit projects forward.
“Reaching this milestone with our federal partners brings us one step closer to delivering on our promise to build a modern, reliable and sustainable transit system that the City of Toronto and York Region so desperately need,” she said. “Today’s announcement is an endorsement by the federal government of our government’s and premier Ford’s vision for transit in the GTA.”
Along with connecting underserved communities and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Mulroney said the projects will support over 16,000 jobs each year during construction, with continued employment for the operation and maintenance of the new lines.
Toronto Mayor John Tory said the announcement “proves that when people work together we can get things done” and thanked Trudeau and Ford for being good partners to the City of Toronto.
“It was a bit of a difficult path to get to where we are, but the bottom line is we got there,” he said. “As mayor of Canada’s largest city and the country’s economic engine, I am proud to secure the support from these governments, both federal and provincial, for our transit system because transit expansion is vitally important to the future of our city.”
He added that Toronto is a partner with the federal and provincial governments in this plan and will continue to invest the City Building Fund in transit infrastructure upgrades and repairs.
Markham mayor Frank Scarpitti has been a longtime supporter of the Yonge North extension and called the investment an “outstanding commitment” that will contribute to creating a sustainable future for generations to come.
“With the addition of the Yonge North subway extension we will reduce greenhouse gases annually by 4,800 tons … and it will also eliminate the over 3,300 bus trips that are taken daily on an already jam-packed Yonge Street corridor,” he said.
Scarpitti added that Minister McKenna has been instrumental in pushing through the funding agreement and thanked both Trudeau and Ford for their commitment to York Region’s transit needs.
Ontario’s science advisors say the province could safely reopen many outdoor recreational facilities even if it extends a stay-at-home order in the coming weeks.
The scientific director of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table says outdoor activities like golf, tennis and beach volleyball are low risk.
Dr. Peter Juni says that in some cases, if physical distancing cannot be maintained during the activity, people should wear masks.
Juni says public health officials must address activities linked with the sports — like car-pooling or sharing a locker room — which represent greater risk of COVID-19 exposure.
The province imposed a stay-at-home order last month that closed thousands of business and outdoor recreational facilities, except playgrounds.
The science table criticized the restriction of outdoor activities, saying they will not control COVID-19 and disproportionately harm children and those who don’t have access to their own green space.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said Monday that the province was considering extending the stay-at-home order, which would mean the outdoor facilities would likely remain closed.
The province’s top doctor said he would like to see “well below 1,000” daily cases before Ontario lifts the stay-at-home order. Dr. David Williams stressed that while the province is bending the pandemic curve, it has not brought the numbers down far enough.
Ontario reported 2,073 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and 15 additional deaths from the virus.
The case numbers were based on more than 28,100 tests completed since the last daily report.
The province said there are currently 1,782 people hospitalized with COVID-19, including 802 in intensive care units.
Meanwhile, people with at-risk health conditions in Ontario became eligible to book their COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday. That includes people with dementia, diabetes and sickle cell disease.
Another group of people who cannot work from home including grocery store, restaurant and transportation workers also became eligible to book a shot.
Starting Thursday, anyone 40 or older will be able to book a shot anywhere in the province.
The government said it has been able to expand eligibility to more age groups because it is expecting to receive millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses in the coming weeks.
Ontario said it expects 65 per cent of adults to have their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of May.
