Most regions of Ontario will be coming out of a stay-at-home order, effective Tuesday morning.
The provincial government announced Friday afternoon that 27 of Ontario's public health regions will have the stay-at-home order lifted as of 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
These regions include Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent, and London-Middlesex, which will all go to the Red-Control classification.
In Red regions, indoor gatherings are limited to five people, with 25 outdoors. For religious services, weddings, and funerals, capcaity is limited to 30 per cent indoors and 100 people outdoors.
Restaurants and bars may reopen for in-person dining with a capacity of ten people at a time and no more than four at a table.
Retail stores such as supermarkets, pharmacies and convenience stores may operate at 75 per cent capacity. All other retail outlets are limited to 50 per cent.
The province said that the decision was based on a general improvement in trends of key COVID-19 indicators, including lower transmission of COVID-19, improved hospital capacity, and available public health capacity to conduct rapid case and contact management.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said while the news is encouraging, this is not an indication that people need to let their guard down.
"The health and safety of Ontarians remains our number one priority. While we are cautiously and gradually transitioning some regions out of shutdown, with the risk of new variants this is not a reopening or a return to normal," said Elliott. "Until vaccines are widely available, it remains critical that all individuals and families continue to adhere to public health measures and stay home as much as possible to protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities."
Once a stay-at-home order is lifted, each region will be returned to the colour-coded COVID-19 response scale. Regions will stay at that level for two weeks. At that time, health officials will evaluate the key trends with the objective of either keeping a region at a certain level, or moving it up.
The remaining four regions, Toronto, Peel Region, York Region, and North Bay-Parry Sound, will remain under a shutdown and stay-at-home order.
Complete information on the colour classifications can be found on the province's official website.