Ottawa moves to `restrict' Orange zone on Tuesday

Officials urge caution as regulations can change quickly amid new virus variants

As of Tuesday, Ottawa will transition out of shutdown and into the “Orange-Restrict” category under the province's response framework. At the same time, though, Ontario has also warned that it recognizes the risk posed by new variants of COVID -19 and is introducing an “emergency brake.”

The chief medical officer of health, in consultation with the local medical officer of health, can immediately advise moving a region into lockdown to interrupt the spread of the virus.

As of Thursday, there have been 275 confirmed cases of the “U.K. variant” and three confirmed cases of the “South African variant” in Ontario.

Being in the Orange zone will loosen things up considerably. For example, organized public events and social gatherings such as parties, barbecues and weddings held in private homes, parks and backyards may have up to 10 people in doors or 25 people outdoors as long as physical distancing is maintained.

Events at staffed businesses and facilities may have up to 50 people indoors or 100 people outdoors as long as distancing is maintained.

Public health indicators are also heading in the right direction, but Ontario's chief medical officer of health strongly advised against gatherings.

“Everyone is strongly advised to continue staying at home, avoid social gatherings, only travel between regions for essential purposes and limit close contacts to your household or those you live with,” Dr. David Williams said Friday.

Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit will transition to the `Green' zone under the framework, while Eastern Ontario Health Unit, which includes Cornwall and Hawkesbury, will join Ottawa in Orange.

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health, Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health, and Renfrew County and District Health Unit all moved to the framework at the Green “prevent” level on Wednesday.

The province said public health regions would stay in their new levels for at least two weeks, at which time “the government will assess the impact of public health and workplace safety measures to determine if the region should stay where they are or be moved to a different level.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had spoken with Pfizer-BioNTech executives and had received confirmations for shipments that would bring the total to four million doses by the end of March.

The federal government will share delivery schedules with provinces and territories and future shipments will come “sooner” than initially scheduled, Trudeau said.

Deliveries will accelerate to 10.8 million doses to Canada between April and June, the prime minister said.

Canada has also purchased four million additional doses from Moderna, with delivery expected over the summer, Trudeau said. Canada is now set to receive 84 million doses from Pfizer and Moderna by the end of September.

While overall case counts and severe cases continue their steady decline across the country, Canada's top health officials warn that the emergence of highly-contagious variants of COVID-19 in eight provinces are cause for concern. At least three provinces have reported evidence of community spread of the variants.

Canada's Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Howard Njoo, said “more diligence” was needed to protect high-risk populations from the deadly new variants and to allow time for vaccinations.

When asked during a virtual news conference whether the potential third wave could surpass the first and second waves of the pandemic, Njoo acknowledged it was “possible.”

It's difficult to gauge the severity of the potential spread of the variants, he said.

“We are starting to vaccinate people, but the rest of the population remains susceptible to the virus … So we can't let our guard down.”