BREAKING: Ford says parts of Ontario will enter stage 3 on Friday

There were 116 cases reported in Ontario on Friday, 130 on Saturday and 129 on Sunday.

Ontario now has 1,454 active coronavirus cases and has seen 2,722 deaths. There have been 32,663 recoveries made in the province.

Ford said that nearly all businesses, including gyms, theatres, and restaurants including indoor dining, will be able to resume starting on Friday in parts of Ontario. Notable exceptions include much of the Toronto-area and Windsor.

As per the Ontario website, the following regions will remain in Stage 2, as additional time is required to assess and monitor any impacts and readiness to move into Stage 3:

• Durham Region Health Department • Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit • Halton Region Public Health • Hamilton Public Health Services • Lambton Public Health • Niagara Region Public Health • Peel Public Health • Toronto Public Health • Windsor-Essex County Health Unit • York Region Public Health

Ford provided some insight on the guidelines for stage 3, including loosening on restrictions for indoor gathering limits, which will increase from 10 to 50 people. Outdoor gatherings can be as large as 100 people.

Over the past 24 hours, 129 patients have made recoveries—bringing the total number of active cases down by 13.

There were 34 new cases reported in Toronto on Monday along with 38 in Peel Region and 15 in Windsor-Essex.

According to Health Minister Christine Elliott, 21 of the 34 public health units in Ontario reported no cases on Monday and only five or less were reported at a further eight units.

Epidemiologist Dr. Isaac Bogoch called Ontario’s recent numbers encouraging even though they remain in triple digits.

“We’re still having triple digits–120–130 cases in Ontario per day—obviously we could do better but it’s still pretty good,” he said.

Bogoch said measures like physical distancing, hand hygiene, wearing masks and continued testing will keep the province on the right track.

“We’ll do okay so long as we stay vigilant,” he said.

There have been 20,896 tests processed in the past 24 hours, with 7,800 specimens currently under investigation.