Ontario will be staying in the current phase of COVID-19 restrictions for an undisclosed amount of time.
Dr. Kieran Moore, the province’s chief medical officer of health, announced this afternoon there is a pause on Ontario’s exit from the three-step Roadmap to Reopen.
Ontario moved into step three of the roadmap on July 16, which reopened some indoor activities and services in Ontario with capacity restrictions. Under the final step, indoor social gatherings up to 25 people were permitted.
The original thresholds set out in the roadmap indicated the province “may” be able to exit step three once 70 to 80 per cent of adults were vaccinated with one dose of a COVID vaccine and 25 per cent was vaccinated with two doses.
As of today, more than 81 per cent of Ontarians aged 12 years or older have received one dose of a COVID vaccine, and it is anticipated 75 per cent of eligible Ontarians will be fully vaccinated by the end of this month.
According to the province, the pause in lifting restrictions further is because of the “evolving data around the delta variant and based on the recent experiences of other jurisdictions.”
No elected officials joined Moore for today's announcement.
No timeline was given for how long it will take the government to approve loosened restrictions and an exit from the roadmap.
“The chief medical officer of health and other health experts will continue to monitor the data to determine when it is safe to exit the roadmap and lift the majority of public health and workplace safety measures currently in place,” states a news release from the Ontario government.
Today, Public Health Ontario reported 348 new COVID cases.
