Here are the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic in the Greater Toronto Area for Saturday:
New public health rules in effect in Toronto, Peel Region
New public health rules that Premier Doug Ford announced on Friday are now in place in Toronto and Peel Region.
Bars, restaurants and nightclubs are now limited to a capacity of 100 people under provincial regulations and no more than six people will be allowed at each table. Each customer’s contact information must also be collected for contact tracing.
Banquet halls and event spaces will be limited to a capacity of 50 people, also with no more than six people per table.
Gyms will also need to be limited to 50 people and classes can include no more than 10.
Toronto already implemented its own new measures earlier this week — including a cap of 75 people in restaurants and bars, as well as limiting patrons at tables to six, so the new provincial measures won’t result in changes for those establishments in the city.
Coronavirus: Ontario tightens public health measures, targets hot spots in Toronto, Peel Region and Ottawa
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New public health measures in effect in Ontario’s coronavirus hot spots
ActiveTO continues
Road closures are in place again this weekend in Toronto as part of ActiveTO.
The program sees roads closed to motorists in a bid to give people more room when they move around the city amid the pandemic.
Affected streets include Lake Shore Boulevard and Bayview Avenue. Closures will be lifted at 11 p.m. Sunday.
Earlier this week, Mayor John Tory announced that ActiveTO would be extended into October.
ActiveTO major weekend road closures are back. Parts of major roads in Toronto are open for people to be active and safe from virus spread. Today at 6am until Sun. at 11pm, parts of Lake Shore West, East and Bayview Ave are closed to vehicles. https://t.co/Y4n2zeb5yY #ActiveTO pic.twitter.com/4ZqjpaqnJ3
— City of Toronto (@cityoftoronto) October 3, 2020
Ontario reports 653 cases
Ontario reported 653 cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 53,633.
“Locally, there are 284 new cases in Toronto, 104 in Peel and 97 in Ottawa,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said on Twitter.
“Sixty-four per cent of today’s cases are in people under the age of 40. There are 435 more resolved cases,” Elliott said.
“Due to a data review at [Toronto Public Health], a number of cases and deaths that occurred in the spring or summer are being reported today,” she added.
In a statement sent to Global News, Toronto Public Health said nine of the cases reported Saturday are from the spring or summer, meaning a total of 644 cases are recent.
Elliott also said the province completed nearly 46,300 additional tests, which is a single-day record.
A total of 41 deaths were reported on Saturday, 37 of which are from the spring or summer and part of the data remediation.
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Ontario reports 653 coronavirus cases after record number of tests completed