The Government of Ontario is expected to announce a new province-wide lockdown to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is planning to announce a sweeping shutdown of non-essential businesses and services. The lockdown will begin at 12:01 a.m. on December 24 and last 28 days, according to widespread media reports.
The province held emergency talks over the weekend to discuss additional pandemic measures in the wake of several consecutive days with new COVID-19 case counts exceeding 2,000. At the same time, Nunavut reported its first two deaths related to the coronavirus on Sunday as infection rates remained high in several provinces, including Ontario and Quebec.
The news comes a day after Canada surpassed 500,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The latest 100,000 cases were recorded across the country over just 15 days — the shortest growth period since the pandemic was declared last March.
It took six months for Canada to register its first 100,000 cases of COVID-19, another four to reach 200,000, less than a month to hit 300,000 and 18 days to hit 400,000.
The two provinces hardest hit by the pandemic, Ontario and Quebec, each reported more than 2,000 new infections on Sunday, with Ontario’s tally at 2,316 and Quebec’s at 2,146. The provinces also recorded 25 and 21 new deaths, respectively.
The new infections come as Ottawa is weighing how to respond to a new strain of COVID-19 found in the United Kingdom, and as vaccines against the disease begin to be distributed across Canada. A number of European countries have closed their borders with the United Kingdom because of the new strain of COVID-19, which is allegedly more contagious.
At the same time, a new online survey shows the majority of Canadians report feeling optimistic about the new year in light of the COVID-19 vaccines. A poll conducted by Leger found that 70% of people said they were somewhat optimistic about 2021, while 15% reported feeling very optimistic. The survey polled 1,528 Canadian adults between December 11 and 13.