BREAKING: Ford announces return of gyms, indoor dining in Ottawa

According to Premier Ford, the restrictions will be lifted on Saturday, November 7th.

The announcement comes as Doug Ford announces a new "tiered" system for tackling the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. According to CP24, the new system "would allow most businesses to reopen albeit with earlier closing times, stricter capacity limits and mandatory symptom screenings."

Under the new system, Ontario will be divided into five health regions which will be colour-coded based on the present coronavirus situations.

With these new restrictions, restaurants and bars in cities which are considered "orange" will be allowed to reopen but must stop serving alcohol after 9:00 p.m. and must close by 10:00 p.m. No more than four individuals will be allowed to sit at a single table and all dining establishments will have a capacity limit of 50. Gyms will also face a 50-person capacity limit and will be forced to limit the amount of time customers can spend inside.

Cinemas will also be allowed to reopen, but rather than being limited to 50 attendees per theater, they will instead be limited to 50 people per venue, which some say could spell trouble for cinemas with a large number of theaters.

Rules will be more lax in areas considered "yellow," where capacity for some venues will be raised and restaurants will not be forced to close until midnight. "Green" areas will have even less restrictions, with venues which require patrons to remove their face masks being allowed to operate.

Toronto, which is placed in the "red" category, will however continue to face the same restrictions it has seen over the past month. Mayor John Tory requested "a little more time" to get coronavirus infection numbers under control, according to Premier Ford.

“This planning framework provides structure. It will help inform decisions on regional and province-wide public health measures based on the data we are seeing. The framework will also provide more certainty to businesses, families and workers,” Ford said in his press conference.