Manitoba shuts down in Toronto to impose new restrictions as COVID-19 infections rise

Manitoba is imposing a stricter blockade of the second wave of COVID-19 in Canada, while the country’s largest city is extending its ban on indoor dining at its restaurants in an effort to stop a wave of infections that is engulfing much of the country. country.

In an effort to block the rapid spread of the virus, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister announced on Tuesday the closure of in-person retail shopping except grocery stores and pharmacies, the restriction of takeaway or delivery bars and restaurants, and bans on all. social gatherings, religious services and sports for four weeks. Schools must remain open.

Manitoba recorded 383 new cases on Tuesday and now has the highest per capita infection rate of any province. More than 10% of all COVID-19 tests in Manitoba have tested positive on average in the past five days – well above the 3% level, experts say, indicates a dangerous level of spread. The province also currently has the worst record in the country for active cases and hospitalizations, with numbers much higher than the hotspots in Alberta and Quebec and many times greater than in Ontario.

“We need to flatten our COVID curve and we need to do it now,” Pallister said.

Manitoba closes churches and non-essential shops, bans social gatherings as COVID-19 cases rise

Toronto will follow the Peel region by adding local restrictions to Ontario’s new reopening system

In Toronto, as the city had a record second day in a row with more than 500 new cases of COVID-19, Mayor John Tory and medical health officer Eileen de Villa announced a ban on indoor dining in restaurants and bars. it would be extended for another 28 days. The new orders also prohibit indoor fitness classes but allow gyms to reopen with a limit of 10 people.

The city was set to move to the province’s new restrictions framework, with the province’s ban on indoor eating expiring this weekend. Under the province’s new system, Toronto is classified as a “red zone,” but restaurants and bars would be allowed to serve a maximum of 10 customers at a time.

Before the province imposed the current temporary ban on indoor dining in Toronto and other virus hotspots last month, Dr. de Villa had pleaded with Queen’s Park to act, citing legal opinion that using her powers as an officer health doctor to introduce similar rules Toronto could leave you personally responsible.

But on Tuesday he said the pandemic had gotten so bad that he had no choice but to place his own health orders despite that legal advice, noting that test positivity rates increased from just 1.3 percent in September to 5, 9% in the first week of this month.

“What has changed here … is the urgency of the situation,” he said. “Legal advice really isn’t [changed] but we are seeing a greater spread of COVID-19, we are seeing rates that we have never seen before. “

Mr. Tory pointed out the even worse situation in the nearby Peel region, west of Toronto, where hospitals are struggling to meet demand and where local public health officials announced their additional measures on Monday, as evidence that Toronto had to Act.

“We can’t afford to get to that situation in the city of Toronto, or even a worse situation where another blockade becomes necessary,” he said. “We need a preemptive strike to avoid giving up all the progress we had made to tackle the virus.”

Dr. de Villa is also urging residents to spend time only with the people in their family, a recommendation that doesn’t carry the weight of the law. He also advised residents to leave their homes only for essential reasons: work, buying food or medicine, seeking medical care and exercise.

Ontario’s new color-coded system for reopening has been criticized by epidemiologists for easing restrictions in hotspots even as cases increase. Premier Doug Ford says he is trying to balance the needs of small businesses with public health.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged premieres and mayors across the country not to relax COVID-19 restrictions for the sake of the economy and suggested that localized closures are needed in areas that see increased cases.

“I hope no leaders in our country are easing their public health vigilance because they feel the pressure not to shut down businesses or slow our economy,” Trudeau said at a press conference in Ottawa.

He added that his government has provided financial support to make it easier to close when needed. However, its corporate rental grant program is not yet available. Mr. Trudeau also said he does not see the need to intervene “immediately” with federal emergency powers if the provinces fail to act.

Mr. Ford, who appeared alongside Mr. Tory at a press conference early Tuesday, called on Mr. Trudeau to offer more financial support to businesses affected by the pandemic. He also said he won’t rule out stricter lockdown measures.

“I can’t rule out anything,” said Mr. Ford. “I think we have already demonstrated that at the beginning of this pandemic, if it has to be done, we do.”

Debate has risen over how effective the 28-day indoor eating ban imposed in the Toronto, Ottawa, Peel and York regions of Ontario has been effective in fighting the disease.

Toronto’s Dr. de Villa unveiled data on Tuesday suggesting the ban has significantly slowed transmission among young people living in the city condominium and downtown bars and restaurants.

In the central Waterfront Communities-Island area, he said, from September 18 to October 10, the case rate was 275 per 100,000 people. After indoor meals were banned, the rate plummeted. By the week of November 8, it had dropped to 49 per 100,000 people. In Little Portugal, another downtown neighborhood full of young people and restaurants, the case rate dropped from 604 per 100,000 people to 77 per 100,000 people.

However, according to an analysis by Globe and Mail, when cases fell near the center, they increased again in poor and racialized areas of northwest Toronto and north Scarborough, where several neighborhoods saw big leaps. For example, the Scarborough neighborhood of Rouge, which borders Pickering, recorded 234 cases in the past three weeks, compared with 39 in the three weeks leading up to September 28.

In Alberta, Premier Jason Kenney has resisted the idea of ​​closing businesses or going back to a lockdown, relying largely on voluntary measures and arguing that such restrictions represent “massive” violations of the rights of people who do more harm than good. .

Alberta added 713 new infections on Tuesday and seven deaths. There were 207 people in the hospital, including 43 in intensive care – both records since the start of the pandemic.

Dozens of hospital doctors and infectious disease experts wrote to Mr. Kenny this week, urging him to implement a two-week lockdown to act as a “circuit breaker” to curb infections, warning of “catastrophic” consequences if the province continues with. its current course.

With files by James Keller, Marieke Walsh, Kelly Grant, Chen Wang and The Canadian Press

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