BREAKING: Doug Ford says 'everything is on the table'—further lockdown measures possible for Ontario

Ontario premier Doug Ford said that "everything is on the table" when it comes to implementing greater restrictions to combat the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in a Thursday press conference.

"Everything is on the table and if we move forward and decide to do a further lockdown, there's a lot of things to take into consideration," Ford told reporters.

"There's the education, making sure we have daycare, making sure the educators are ready. Making sure as simple as having hotels for people who have COVID... We have to make sure we have something for the businesses."

"We just can't keep going on like this for these small business owners, we have to make sure there is some help for business owners as well."

According to a survey from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, 70 percent of businesses in Toronto say they will be unable to survive another lockdown. Another report from the CFIB showed that 158,000 small and medium-sized businesses are at risk of permanent closure across the country.

"There's a lot of things to consider. The worst thing we can do is rush out there and make a snap decision in a heartbeat," Ford continued. "We have to make sure that if we do make this decision, is it going to be two weeks, is it going to be three weeks, is it going to be twenty-eight days?"

Ford finished by stating that he "will not hesitate to do whatever it takes to slow down this trend that we see," referring to the rising number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Ontario. 2,432 new cases were recorded on Wednesday, the highest on record in the province.