[GTranslate]TORONTO – New provincial government tightening to curb Covid-19 contagion in Ontario. It was announced by Doug Ford, who ultimately had to give in to pressure from many quarters for the activation of more stringent measures in the face of the growth of the epidemiological curve. Starting today and for four weeks, throughout the province, an instrument already used last January comes into force, the stay-at-home order: you can only go out to work and to do shopping. “You have to stay at home – we read in the new measure – except for essential purposes, such as going shopping or in drugs, taking advantage of health services (including vaccination), exercising near home, and going to work for those who can not do it online from home”.

The Commission has also decided to intervene in shops and shopping centres.

Supermarkets and pharmacies remain open, while retailers who do not sell essential products will not be able to let customers in only online sales and the collection of products on the sidewalk are allowed. All shopping malls in the province close until May 6, while garden centers will remain open to the public.

Compared to January, the premier’s squeeze also hits big sales centers like Walmart. From today they will only be able to sell goods considered essential. Food, personal hygiene products and medicines can therefore be purchased, while the lanes with electronic products will be closed.

On the school front, at least at the provincial level, the crackdown will have no effect. As confirmed by the Minister of Public Education Stephen Lecce, schools will remain open: it will then be up to the individual local health units to decide on the possible closure, as has happened in Toronto and the Peel Region in recent days. In January, however, it was the federal government itself that activated the lockdown at the same time as schools closed across the province.

Until next May 6, therefore, Ontario temporarily shelves the colour classification system that had been activated in recent months. The strategy advocated by the government, therefore, is to set aside leopard-spot lockdowns and instead proceed uniformly in all the various regions.

The new squeeze was necessary for the sudden increase in Covid-19 cases in Ontario over the past ten days. Yesterday there was a figure not seen since mid-January: over 3,200 new cases in just 24 hours. Also of concern to health authorities and the government is the increase in intensive care admissions due to Covid, which on Tuesday exceeded 500 for the first time. Numbers that frighten and confirm how the new variants – especially the English one, or B117 – are more aggressive and contagious than the original strain of Covid-19.

The average age of people in hospital and intensive care is also falling sharply, while the vaccination campaign is not proceeding at the expected rate. In short, the government has understood that at this stage the only effective tool to curb the rush of contagion is that of a drastic squeeze that led to good results during the second wave.