Health Minister Christine Elliot says an uptick in COVID-19 cases during colder months when more people are indoors was factored into the province’s re-opening plans.
That means the government will not be changing course and re-introducing province-wide restrictions despite a recent rise in new cases — with 441 reported across the province Tuesday.
Experts have said the increase might be due to cooler weather and the lifting of capacity restrictions on some venues like stadiums and restaurants.
Locally there were 18 new cases across the SWPH region with one new death. As of Tuesday, the region sports the highest per capita rate of ongoing COVID-19 cases in SW Ontario.
Elliott adds even with the rising cases, Ontario’s relatively high vaccination rate of 85 per cent of eligible residents means there are fewer people now in hospital in intensive care.
