Canada: Ontario considering Stage 2 of reopening despite surge in COVID-19 cases

Moving to Ontario's Stage 2 of reopening is now being considered by the senior officials who form the COVID-19 command table, said Ford.

Ontario's top public health officials, however, had been cautioning that a steady decline in the number of daily new cases is essential before recommending a move to Stage 2.

During the question-answer session of the conference of Jun 4, Ford was asked if it was Ontario's right decision to go to stage 2 considering the inconsistent number of new cases going between 300 to 400.

Ford said that criteria of consistent decline in the daily number of new cases over a two- to four-week period are being taken into consideration.

In support of Ford's argument and to clarify the audience questions, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said during the daily conference that although there is a need to see the consistent decline in the number of new cases before taking a step forward, there are many other factors to be considered.

Responding to the audience' question of why test results by Labs did not have the postal codes in keeping with the provincial laws whereas this information is required for collecting data, Elliot said that every effort is being done by the government of Ontario to monitor new cases as well as do the contact tracing to reduce the number of new cases and to follow up as Ontario gets ready for Stage 2 of reopening.

Elliot added that she is pleased to announce that 20,000 tests on COVID-19 were completed on June 4 and that efforts are being made to increase testing.

Stage 2 would imply loosening of many restrictions being imposed during the COVID-19 outbreak by expanding the current limitations of the maximum size of social gatherings of five.

The reopening of a wider number of office-based businesses would also be allowed in Stage 2.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)