The Ontario government says it is extending all emergency orders put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 until at least May 19.
The province confirmed the extension in a news release issued on Wednesday morning.
A state of emergency was first declared in Ontario on March 17 and a number of emergency orders were subsequently put in place, including the closure of non-essential businesses and a ban on gatherings larger than five people.
The emergency orders were last extended on April 14 and were supposed to be effect until May 12. The province has now extended all orders by another week.
The province also announced Wednesday that it would be extending hydro rate relief for families, farms, and small businesses.
Time-of-use electricity rates will be billed at the off-peak price until May 31.
“During this extraordinary period, many people are struggling to pay the bills as they do the right thing by staying at home, as well as our farmers and those whose businesses have closed or suffered reduced customer traffic,” Premier Doug Ford said in a written statement.
“Although we are making progress in our fight against this COVID-19 outbreak, we are not out of the woods yet. The extension of this electricity rate relief will leave more money in people’s pockets until businesses can start to reopen and people can get back to work.”
The province has released a framework for reopening Ontario in three separate stages and on Monday, some seasonal businesses were allowed to partially reopen, including garden centres, marinas, and golf courses.
Garden centres are currently only permitted to provide customers with curbside pickup and delivery and marinas and golf courses can prepare for the upcoming season but are not open to the public.
Earlier this week, Ford indicated that the province is getting “close” to reopening parks and retail stores for curbside pickup.
The province’s chief medical officer of health has indicated that Ontario will need to see a consistent decline in the number of new COVID-19 cases and a decline in hospitalizations before we can begin to restart the economy.
Over the past week, the number of new cases in the province has been trending downward, with 387 new cases reported on Monday and 370 on Sunday. Those number are down from the record 640 new cases Ontario saw on April 25.
Despite the dip in new cases, the number of deaths in the province continues to climb. Ontario surpassed 1,300 virus-related deaths earlier this week and the vast majority of deaths involve residents of long-term care.
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