Toronto Imposes 4-Week Lockdown as COVID-19 Cases Surge in Canada's Most Populated City
The imposition of lockdown is expected to hurt the Canadian economy, which was treading towards recovery after being battered during the first wave of pandemic. Toronto, the most populated city of Canada, also houses the maximum number of manufacturing industries and other key economic hubs.
Toronto, November 23: A four-week lockdown was imposed in Toronto, the capital of Canada's Ontario province, amid a rapid surge in COVID-19 cases. The announcement came shortly after Ontario recorded the highest single day spike in coronavirus cases, with 1,589 infections being recorded in the past 24 hours. More than half the cases were detected in Toronto. Eurozone Economy in 'Steep Downturn' Due to Lockdowns Necessitated by COVID-19 Second Wave: IHS Markit Survey.
The numbers across the province have doubled over the past one month. The rapidly rising tally of active infections has brought ICUs in Toronto near their full capacities. The administration is taking immediate measures to ramp up the health infrastructure.
The lockdown measures announced by the provincial government on Monday includes a complete work-from-home order for non-essential businesses. Essential shops and services providers are permitted to operate, whereas, schools would also function as usual.
The imposition of lockdown is expected to hurt the Canadian economy, which was treading towards recovery after being battered during the first wave of pandemic. Toronto, the most populated city of Canada, also houses the maximum number of manufacturing industries and other key economic hubs.
The Ontario government, while contending that a lockdown adversely impacts several families, particularly those who are not involved in white collar work-from-home jobs, said the harsh measure is necessitated to restrict fatalities. On Monday, 19 more deaths were reported in Ontario, taking the overall COVID-19 toll to 3,505 in the state.
Officials in Toronto are hopeful that the lockdown would prove to successful, similar to April when a shutdown had snapped the chain of infections and drastically reduced the number of infections as compared to other cities in North America and Europe.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 23, 2020 09:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).