COVID-19: Ontario reports slight surge in new cases; Emergency orders extended for 10 days

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By Norman Provencher

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COVID-19: Ontario reports slight surge in new cases; Emergency orders extended for 10 days Back to video

Ontario reported a slight surge in new COVID-19 cases Saturday, with 160 new confirmed cases. of COVID-19 today.

Eight more people have died, bringing the total death count to 2,652.

The government reported just 111 new cases Friday.

The provincial total of confirmed cases now stands at 34,476 with 86.8 per cent considered resolved.

The province completed 33,492 tests in the previous day

Ontario has extended the emergency orders now in force to assist in the fight against COVID-19 for 10 more days.

In a release early Saturday, the province said the measures will be in force to July 10.

“While we have made truly incredible progress in our fight against COVID-19, these emergency orders will allow us to take action, if necessary, to ensure our continued success as we reopen our province and get more people back to work,” Premier Doug Ford said in the release.

Saturday’s announcement affects measures already in place.

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On June 24, the overarching declaration of emergency, which empowers the province to issue emergency orders was extended to July 15

The government also removed certain restrictions for Stage 2 indoor sports and recreational fitness activities facilities.

“This will enable the facilities to be used by more businesses and organizations to train amateur or professional athletes, or to run certain non-contact amateur or professional athletic competitions,” the release stated.

Like other businesses, the sports facilities will be subject to public health requirements.

National

Canada will contribute $300 million towards the international effort to battle COVID-19, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Saturday.

Trudeau said Canada will contribute $180 million to address the immediate humanitarian and development impacts of the pandemic, as well as $120 million towards a new initiative called the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, which was created in April by the World Health Organization, the French government, the European Commission and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to ensure equitable access to medical treatments.

There were 172 new confirmed cases in Canada as of Friday night, for a total of 102,794 since the pandemic began. There have been 8,508 deaths.

-With files from The Canadian Press and Postmedia