Ontario’s Province-Wide Emergency Brake Update

With the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams, the province will be imposing a provincewide emergency brake  as a result of an alarming surge in case numbers and COVID-19 hospitalizations across the province. The provincewide emergency brake will be effective Saturday, April 3, 2021, at 12:01 a.m. and will be in place for at least four weeks.

Ontario’s key indicators and latest modelling show that additional measures must be taken:

Ø  From March 26 to 28, 2021, provincial case rates have increased by 7.7 per cent to 101.1 cases per 100,000 people;

Ø  Current COVID-19 related ICU admissions are already over the peak of wave two and hospitals in regional hotspots will need to further ramp down scheduled surgeries;

Ø  COVID-19 related ICU admissions are projected to exceed 650 beds in a few weeks; and

Ø  These increases are being driven by COVID-19 variants, which are transmitted easily and result in a higher risk of death and hospitalization, including in younger populations.

Across all of Ontario,  we are limiting capacity at weddings, funerals, and religious services, rites or ceremonies to 15 per cent total occupancy indoors, and to the number of individuals that can maintain two metres of physical distance outdoors. This does not include social gatherings associated with these services like receptions, which are not permitted indoors and are limited to five people outdoors.