Toronto, Canada's largest city, will go back into lockdown for 28 days to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The lockdown will be effective Monday onwards and will include restrictions in place in the Peel Region, which is part of the Greater Toronto Area.
Under the lockdown, indoor social gatherings will be limited to members of the same household, weddings, funerals and other religious ceremonies will have guests limited to 10 people.
Retail will be allowed to remain open, as long as they restrict to curbside pick-up only. Grocery stores and pharmacies will function at 50 per cent capacity.
Schools and childcare will remain open, but post-secondary education will be limited to virtual learning except training that can be provided only in person.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, "We cannot afford a province-wide lockdown, so we are taking preventative action today by moving Toronto and Peel into lockdown level restrictions ... We need to take decisive action to stop the spread of this deadly virus,”. He added that the number of those infected with the virus are "rising rapidly in certain regions," and that the lockdown will protect "hospitals, long-term care and retirement homes, and every person in this province."
Other parts of the province, too, will move to higher levels of restrictions starting Monday. Currently, Canada has been reporting about 5,000 new cases of the coronavirus each day. "I don't want to be here this morning, you don't want me to be here this morning, but here we are again. The cases across the country are spiking massively," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said while giving a briefing outside his house like he did when the first wave hit, a BBC report reads. British Columbia announced new restrictions, while Quebec shuttered gyms and restaurants in September.