“China eats weird animals disease”

City officials say they are “prepared to respond as required” against businesses that say they intend on reopening Thursday, despite provincial health orders.

“We will take appropriate enforcement action against any business that operates in contravention of the regulations governing the operation of non-essential businesses as we have done throughout the pandemic,” fire Chief Matthew Pegg said Monday during a COVID-19 briefing. Pegg leads the city’s emergency operations.

A number of businesses have announced their intent to reopen through a group called “We Are All Essential,” which plans to defy COVID-19 rules.

Businesses listed on the site include Toronto’s Adamson Barbecue, whose owner was previously arrested and charged after reopening the restaurant.

Ontario is starting to ease COVID-19 restrictions, lifting stay-at-home orders Wednesday for three eastern regions that have low infection rates, but keeping the rest of the province in lockdown another week with Toronto, Peel Region and York Region not slated to emerge until Feb. 22.

The plan to be outlined by Premier Doug Ford this afternoon lets a four-week state of emergency imposed on Jan. 12 expire Tuesday, but comes with an “emergency brake” to allow a quick return to regional shutdowns if cases flare, particularly from new variants of the virus that are more contagious.

Ontario reports 1,265 new COVID-19 cases; testing down 45 per cent

Ontario is reporting 1,265 new COVID-19 cases on Monday along with 33 more deaths, as testing rates fell more than 45 per cent as is often observed after a weekend.

Toronto reported 421 new cases as it exits a week-long period where it was transitioning to the province’s main COVID-19 data management system.

Civil liberties group warns mandatory hotel quarantines may harm low income Canadians

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is questioning Ottawa’s move to require hotel quarantines for international travellers, saying it may harm lower-income Canadians and infringe on citizens’ mobility rights.

Cara Zwibel, a lawyer who heads the organization’s fundamental freedoms program, is calling on the federal government to produce any evidence that returning passengers are breaching the current requirement to self-isolate at home, which she suggests is the only fair basis to toughen the rules.

Ontario is reporting 1,489 cases of #COVID19 and nearly 51,700 tests completed. Locally, there are 517 new cases in Toronto, 261 in Peel and 121 in York Region.

As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 379,184 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) February 7, 2021

Large-scale reopening of Toronto won’t be anytime soon, Tory says

Mayor John Tory said Saturday he believes “it will be some time yet” before a larger scale reopening of Toronto is possible.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Peel Region, the medical officer of health said he would like to first see the impact — over a period of two to four weeks — of the reopening of schools in Peel on Feb. 16 before the region gradually reopens further.

Both were reacting to The Canadian Press report from Friday, in which a source said the Ontario government was planning to gradually ease restrictions in the province, starting next week with regions that have been less affected by COVID-19.